


There's More Than Meets the Eye

by Ziammotherfuckers (orphan_account)



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Angst, Death, Espionage, Eventual Smut, Fights, Guns, Handler!Harry, Handler!Liam, I'll keep tagging as we go along, I'm Bad At Tagging, Kelley is Mash just in case it gets confusing, Liam's Louis' and Harry's moms are all spies as well, Like i said Zouis is only for covers, M/M, Spies, Spy!Zayn, Uhm, Zayn just really wants to find out who killed his family, but there is a Zouis kiss so far, serect agents, so not really, spy!Louis, spy!Yaser
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-26
Updated: 2013-08-21
Packaged: 2017-12-21 09:29:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/898676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Ziammotherfuckers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn Malik was a Spy. Anyone and Everyone (save a few people) was his enemy. After his father was murdered along with his family when he was ten he has been on a self assigned mission to capture the killer. A year into his career Zayn is matched with a new handler, Liam Payne, who Zayn may or may not have a thing for. But of course he wont let anyone know that. Through everything, will Zayn finally find who killed his family?<br/>(aka the one where I'm bad at summaries but Zayn is spy searching for a bad guy with mini-missions along the way and an unrequited love for his new handler that really isn't unrequited)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> My first time trying to write spy shit so im sorry if there is any goof-ups or unrealistic shit. Enjoy.

“Hey Zayn, Daddy has to go to work now. I’ll see you after alright?” Zayn’s father bends over the dark cherry wooded crib in which Zayn lies. His father leaves a kiss on his forehead. (Zayn may have only been eighteen months old, but he tries to keep all the memories of his father intact and as clear as possible.) Yaser’s raven black hair brushes against Zayn’s skin, tickling him, as his father rises back up and smiles softly. Half words spew out of Zayn’s mouth as Yaser strides out of his room. Zayn sees his mother stopping his father at the door.

“Stay safe alright? I need you to come back for him. For Donyia. For me.”

“Yes love, you remind me every day. And don’t worry, I’ll be back home. I promise.” He gives her a quick kiss.”

“I know. I just…”

“I get it. I have a dangerous job.” Zayn doesn’t even know what he does. He knows that he always goes to work in the same black suit every day; even the weekends. Maybe it’s not the same suit. Maybe he just has a lot of the same one. Did he buy them all at once? Zayn’s adolescent mind doesn’t really ponder over those thoughts anymore and instead he marvels over the stuffed monkey beside him. His parent’s conversation leaving his ears. Zayn grabs the toy in his chubby sausage fingers and holds it above his head. Zayn hasn’t let this animal leave his sight since he was born. Its black stitched smile, soft coffee brown mohair fur, and the little ‘Z’ embroidered on the right side of the chest. Zayn had fallen in love with it.

//

“Daddy, can I come to work with you this one time? Please? I promise I won’t break anything!” Zayn has been begging for years now. He’s five now, and he just really wants to meet all of his friends he talks about see all the cool things he does. Zayn now knows his father is spy. And he _really_ wants to be one too. “Please?” He gives him his best puppy dog eyes he can muster up. His father sighs.

“Fine, but you can’t touch anything alright? And I’ll have one of my friends walk around with you because I have some work today alright?” Zayn shouts in excitement and dances around in victory.

“Thank you thank you thank you Daddy!” Zayn hugs his father tightly.

“Alright kiddo, get your shoes on. We’ll be leaving soon. And I have to tell your mother.” Zayn prances up the stairs to grab and put on his shoes. The oak stairs creak on the 5th step underneath Zayn’s naked feet just like they always have. Zayn pulls on socks and his black sneakers that light up when he walks and have ties on them _“because dad, Velcro isn’t cool!”_ Then he runs back down the stairs, almost tripping and falling, and grabs his jacket just as his father comes out. “Ready?”

“Yes!” Zayn is beyond ready.

“Then let’s go.”

.

When they get to HQ ( _“Dad, why don’t you just call it Headquarters?”_ ) Zayn is practically glowing. He gasps on how huge it is. It isn’t at all how Zayn thought it would look. He thought it might be a tall sky scraper with the logo on the top in huge block font in red or black fluorescent lights. But no. It’s a three storied building, which looks a lot like stairs, with beige coloring the unused outside walls. Floor to ceiling windows space each of the levels, but it’s not all windows like he had imagined. When they walk inside it’s even more extravagant. People are furiously working, scribbling on paper, typing away on computers, and writing things down on white boards. It’s a mess really. Some people are rolling around in their swivel chairs to other workspaces cutting off Zayn and his father. There is a walk space from the door to an elevator though, which Zayn is glad for. He really doesn’t want to walk through the tornado that is the entirety of the first floor.

“This is where people profile, research, and arrest. Floor one is where the workers will find out who they think the killer is and track him down. Then arrest the,, bring them into a questioning room, interrogate them, decide whether or not they are the actual killer, and either book them into a high security jail or let them free.”

“Wow. Do you do this?”

“I used to. Not so much anymore.” Zayn looks around once more before opening the elevator doors. He presses the button furthest from the top.

“Where are we going?”

“Well you see when some people are in a bad situation and they are in danger we keep them two floors down above the first floor. That way they’re practically impossible to find. We have many apartments down here with all the amenities of a regular house. Some might be better than others. For families of course there are bigger apartments, but for a single person it may not be a big one. And it also scales on how much danger you’re in as well. Let’s say Bob was captured, his family Jean, Steve, and Joe might be called in to live down here. And if Joe was killed also before they could get down here we’ll know that they are going after Bob’s family so we’ll have them stay down here for a while. After we bring the killer in, plus any associates in the crime, the remaining family members may leave. Do you get it?”

“Kind of, but if you guys haven’t found Bob’s killer yet after so long will the family upgrade to a better place?”

“They might.” Zayn nods. They circled around different complexes and waved to a few people who were out.

“How do they eat? Is there like a grocery store or something?”

“We bring groceries in every two weeks for them.”

“That’s nice.”

They go back to the elevator and up one floor.

“This is where new agents train.” Yaser points to an area where one ma is holding up a padded shield and the other is hitting it furiously with kicks and hits causing the first guy to stumble backward.

“How do you guys recruit agents?” Zayn asks tearing his eyes off that scene and glancing at his father for a moment.

“Well they either come from a family of agents, or sometimes we’ll come across someone who seems fitting enough to train.”

“So that means I could be a spy too?”

“Yes you very well could be. But It’s dangerous.”

“I know.” Three girls come around the corner all wearing black body suits.

“Hey Yaser, is this Zayn?”

“Yes it is. Zayn this is Karen,” he points to woman with shoulder length, dirty blonde, straight hair and blue eyes. “Jay,” Her brown hair is pulled back into a pony tail and sunglasses adorn her face concealing her eyes, “and Anne.” She has her down as well along with make up so Zayn is having a hard time deciding her eye color. Brown? Green? Grey? Blue?  He really actually can’t decide. “I work with them on occasion.”

“Yeah, on occasion. No one really wants to work with your father.” Jay sasses.

“Now don’t go saying that! He’ll think I'm bad.”

“Oh Zayn, your father is a great man, I'm kidding. He just has a habit of showing off.” His dad suddenly pulls out a silver short-barreled revolver and hits a target about 20 feet away. The people in the training area are startled by the sudden shot. Zayn is more surprised by the bull’s-eye than the fact he has a gun in his pocket.

“See show off.” Karen rolls her eyes along with the other two girls. Yaser blows the tip of his gun like they would in the old cowboy movies when one finally took a shot. He smiles.

“I’m showing Zayn around, you want to tag along?” The three girls shrug and agree to come with. “We already went to the farthest floor, the apartments, and the first floor. So, up to the second now.”

.

“The second floor is the hospital. Like if Steve had gotten shot when arriving here, the doctors we have on call would come in and operate on him. Then we’d send him down to the last floor with Jean. Or if an Agent, like Anne were to get hurt on a mission she’d be fixed up here.” The walls are white and blue with some paintings scattering the walls. Off to the left of the elevator is a waiting area with some chairs and magazines. And to the right is the main desk. Nurses fret around between rooms and Zayn can hear faint screaming. They don’t spend a lot of time here before going to the top level.

.

The top level is full of glass boxes. Men and Women with headsets on look through paper after paper and type feverishly on keyboards. Zayn can see their lips moving but no sound. Three columns of clear squares line the room, and in each column are five rows.

“This is where the handlers speak to their agents. This is just one of the rooms. There are other ones as well. The handlers wear those headsets to turn in with their matching agent. They might give information to the agents to where the bad guys are, who they are, and what they’re doing.”

“Who is yours?”

“His name is Kelley and he’ll be here any minute.” The elevator behind them dings and the doors open. A scrawny boy runs past them and into one of the boxes. “In fact there he is now.” Kelly has a head of unruly dirty blonde curls and acne spotting his face. His features are sharp, almost elf like; his chin is pointy and looks sharp enough to really hurt someone. Kelley’s ears are narrow and long curved at the tip. His eyes are a bright blue with some flecks of orange and his thin bottom lip is between his crooked teeth has he tries to get his papers together. Zayn’s father walks up to the glass and knocks on it a few times. Kelley jumps and drops a folder. His eyes get even wider and Kelley opens the door.

“Uh, hello Sir. Sorry I'm late, there was a hold up at my house and-“

“It’s quite alright Kelley. But I’d like you to meet my son, Zayn.” His father gestures down to him.

“Oh, hello Zayn. I’m Kelley Mashist.”

“Mashist? Like _mash_ ed potatoes.”

“Sure like mashed potatoes.” Mash’s voice is shaky like he’s scared.

“I’m calling you Mash.” Zayn decides. Mash keeps brushing his curls behind his ear and fidgeting. Zayn is half tempted to ask him to stop.

“Well alright. Nice to meet you Zayn. Agent Malik, Payne, Twist, Tomlinson. I’ve got to get to work.” He points behind him and then shoves himself back in and rearranges his papers.

“Mash is weird.” The four adults with him laugh.

“Sure love, he is.” Karen pats his back.

//

It’s kind of a thing now. Zayn comes to work with Yaser every day and hangs around with Karen, Jay, his father, Anne, or Mash. It’s mostly Mash. Zayn hangs around in his office area thing with him and colors or draws. And Mash will bring him lunch every day and watch him color with a fond smile on his face.

When Zayn is 8 his father makes a great decision.

.

“Zayn you’re coming to work with me, but I don’t want you to sit with Kelley.” Yaser announces as they are getting out of the car.

“What? Why? I like Mash I want to sit with him!”

“I know you like Mash, that’s the reason I'm not letting you sit with him today.”

“What am I going to do then?” Zayn huffs and crosses his chest. His father stays quiet as they walk into the elevator. Zayn goes to reach for the top button but before he can his father presses the level below. “Why are we going to the training floor?” Yaser cracks a small smile at his son’s obliviousness. “Dad?” The ‘ding’ sounds and both boys step off.

“Just follow me.” Zayn does as he’s asked, but it doesn’t mean he’s any less confused. His father brings him to an area with a short but built man with his arms crossed over his chest. His tan skin is darker than Zayn’s and his muscles strain his t-shirt in every place. Why didn’t he just get a bigger size? The man’s head is shaved but he has a goatee wisped on his chin. His facial features are scrunched as if he has never smiled and only frowned before. “This is Calion. He’ll be training you.”

“Training me? Training me for wh- Are you serious? You want me to be an Agent?” Zayn’s eyes light up and he faces his father.

“I want you to see if you want to be an agent. Calion will be testing you with various activities. Have fun. I’ll be back after work.” Yaser pets Zayn’s head before leaving. Zayn is grinning huge, then he turns to Calion and it fades.

“You’re not going to beat me up are you?” Calion smiles and shakes his head.

“No. Let’s get started kid.” Calion leads him to the center of the white room and goes off to a closet. Zayn looks around and he sees nothing. It’s just white. “Alright, so I’m going to wear a full body suit and I want you to try to beat me up. Try as hard as you can. I won’t fight back. I need to understand your level of fighting.”

//

In two years Zayn has a schedule. He sees Calion four days a week and Mash the other three. Zayn still draws in Mash’s office (and still calls Kelley, Mash). And still asks Calion if he’s going to beat him up.

.

“Come on Zayn, what are you drawing?” Mash asks for the umpteenth time in 7 minutes.

“Not telling you yet!” Zayn answers with a sing-song voice.

“Fine.” Mash goes back to organizing his papers. Zayn finishes and slaps the paper down in front of Mash. It’s a cartoon version of Mash, holding a bowl of mashed potatoes in one hand. “Ahaha! Is that me with mashed potatoes?”

“Yeah.” Mash laughs a little longer.

“Thanks bro. I like it. I'm going to tape it to my desk. Because I don’t think I'm allowed to put it on the walls.” Zayn grins.

“You’re welcome Mash.” Zayn plops back down on the chair he was sitting in and looks out the glass. Suddenly all the computers go berserk and the one large TV that has little red dots to signify where the agents are goes haywire as well. Then up pops Zayn’s house. “Why is my house on every screen up here?”

“I don’t know Zayn.” Mash gulp and watches, twitching slightly. Zayn keeps his eyes on the big screen as he walks out.

“-repeat Agent Malik come to your house immediately or I will kill your family. I have a button right here in my hand that can detonate a bomb that will kill everyone inside. I only want you, come on.” Zayn’s eyes widen. Someone wants his father and if he doesn’t come he’s going to be killed. The elevator pops up and Yaser runs to Zayn. He picks him up.

“What are you going to do? I don’t want you to be hurt, but what about everyone else?”

“I have to go save them. I just have to. And you’re going to stay right here with Mash alright?”

“No I want to come with you! I want to make sure mom and-“

“No Zayn. You’re staying here.”

“But… Fine. But promise me you’ll come back.” Yaser hesitates for a moment.

“I promise.”

“Agent Malik-“ Mash stands up and goes to say something but Yaser cuts him off.

“No it’s settled. I’ll come back after I go, and you’re going to stay here with Mash.”

“Alright sir.” Mash sighs and sits back down.

“Come back.” Zayn whimpers, tears starting to fall.

“I’m giving you only a few more minutes Yaser, come save your family.” Yaser leaves after giving Zayn a kiss to the forehead. Zayn watches the screen. As soon Zayn thinks his father is outside he hears a loud ‘bang’ and sees the house blow up. Zayn screams. He runs up to the TV and hits it with his fists until it breaks and the picture goes out, but not the sound. “Oops, it seems that I’ve accidentally pressed the button. And oh, what is this? Yaser has been shot as well? What a shame.” Zayn’s tears and freefalling from his eyes like rivers cascading downhill.

“He said he’d come back!” Zayn yells before blacking out.

.

When Zayn wakes up he’s in an unfamiliar bed with an annoying beeping ringing in his ears. He slowly open’s his eyes and rubs them. Where is he? The walls are white and blue and he’s covered by a not-so-comfy blanket which isn’t keeping his warm either. To Zayn’s left is a nightstand with some clothes and a glass of water. He reaches out for the water and sees tube in his hand. And the realization hits him like a bus. He’s in the hospital. His father was killed. His family was murdered. He whines and the tears prickle his eyes again. He pulls his knees up to his chest and hides his face in them. He just wants to go back to sleep and imagine that none of this happened. Because no, his father should be alive calling his name to tell him he’s leaving for work, his mother should be patting his cheek and kissing his forehead before he goes, and he should be cooing over his sisters. Zayn shouldn’t be cooped up in this hospital. room, he shouldn’t be crying all the tears out of his system, and he shouldn’t be family-less. The door creaks open and he hears different pairs of feet shuffle in, the door closes.

“Zayn, we’re sorry to say that-“

“Yeah I know I have no family.” Zayn snaps. He really doesn’t mean to be that rude, “Sorry,” he mutters. He’s just a little upset because his family was just, you know, obliterated.

“It’s fine Zayn,” the voice is familiar but he can’t put a name to the voice. Its female, he knows that, “you just lost some important people in your life. And I came in here to ask you a question.” Zayn looks up, and it’s Jay. Zayn blinks waiting for her to go on. She bites her lip. “Well we can’t get ahold of any other family members, and your only ten years old.” She sighs. “You’re going to be put into foster care.” Zayn’s eyes widen. “Yeah I didn’t like that either. I’ve heard about foster parent beating their children and I don’t want that to happy to such a sweet boy like you.” Zayn slouches; he doesn’t want to be thrust into a house with people he’s never met. And he certainly doesn’t want to be hurt. “And so I was wondering if you want to come live with me. I have son around your age and two other daughters. It’s just an option.” She clasps her fingers together and rocks on her feet. “That’s it. I’ll be back in later for your decision alright?” Zayn nods and she gives him a soft smile before leaving.

.

Zayn decided as soon as she left the room he wanted to live with Jay. Even if he didn’t know her other three children. He knew her and she was amazing, and her children had to be like that too right?

.

When Jay has come back hours later for his answer Zayn brought up a catch.

“I’ll come live with you if you’ll let me keep training here with Calion and stay with Mash.” Jay pondered the compromise.

“Okay, that sounds fair. Let’s get you out of here. I never really liked the hospital anyways.”

.

Zayn still works on his training with Calion on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays and stays with Mash Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Mash is a little more anxious for a few weeks after Yaser was killed. He was assigned a new agent; an old one who would soon be (hopefully) retiring. Calion fights with him harder and harder each passing day.

Zayn was always homeschooled, either at the agency or at home. And Jay still allows him to be homeschooled while her other children go to public school. Zayn keeps training for 7 years.

.

“Can I please Jay? Please? I’ve been training for it since I was eight.” Zayn doesn’t mention how he plans on finding who killed his family. That’s really the only reason Zayn’s stayed in training. He wants to find the bastard and blast him to pieces like he did with his mother and sisters. Or shoot him like he did his father. Or better yet torture him.

“Zayn,” she gives an exasperated sigh, “Louis wants to as well and he’s older than you. He’s 18. Legal to be an agent. And I won’t let him do it either.”

“Jay please? I’m begging. I’ll even bring him with me; I mean I’ve brought him with me a few times to training. He gets the whole gist of it.” She looks Zayn in the eyes.

“Zayn next year you can move out into the last floor of the agency and you can become an agent then.” Zayn groans.

“Jay, I can’t wait another year. I’ve been waiting my whole life.” They lock eyes and neither of them drops their gaze. Jay sighs again.

“Fine, but you’re bringing Louis with you. Help him please. Even though you’re younger than him.”

“Only by a little over a year. Thank you so much Jay!”

.

And that’s essentially how it started. Zayn went into the Agency and begged for another 10 minutes until Simon (the boss man) finally allowed him in. and it took a whole other 5 minutes to convince him to recruit Louis as well. Now Zayn and Louis go to work every day. At first Zayn had a peppy girl as his handler, and he really didn’t even know her name she talked so fast. He thinks it was Michelle. _Or was it Melissa? Miranda? Mindy? Whatever._ But then Mash’s agent retired and Zayn immediately requested him. Mash was his handler now. Louis had some boy whom he was infatuated with it was hilarious. He has a head of curls similar to Mash’s, but not as crazy. And he has jade green eyes and _very_ pink lips. Zayn wants to ask him one of these days if he wears lipstick, or only drinks red Kool-Aid. But he’s pretty sure that Louis would chew him out for it. Zayn’s actually pretty happy where he is right now. Well, maybe not _right_ now.

.

Zayn is crouched behind a barrel. He reloads his revolver. It’s his father’s old .460 S&W Magnum. This gun is Zayn’s first choice in weapon. Zayn unwrinkles the paper he had crushed in his hand while running. There is barely any light, the only source coming from a single dim bulb 30 feet away. Zayn read the contents and silently gasps. _What? No this isn’t possible!_ Zayn takes out a lighter from inside his jacket and burns the note. Zayn returns the lighter back to the pocket it was previously in. He hears a bang and some Russian accents heavily grumbling throughout the room. Zayn takes a deep breath and light floods the room. He stands up quickly and holds his gun up.

“You know I really don’t _want_ to kill you.” Zayn sneers, the two men spin around. “Hello boys.” 


	2. The Note

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's Chapter two. :)

_“You know I really don’t want to kill you.” Zayn sneers, the two men spin around “Hello boys.”_

Zayn is practically asking for a fight by approaching them like this, but he really didn’t have a simpler way to get their attention. Well, he could have thought of one, but he had about two seconds to form a plan. And at that moment his mind was more or less shocked over the note he just set fire to than the fact to huge guys walked in. In fact his mind still a little clouded with the note. And he had to burn in. He couldn’t let whoever this was supposed to be sent to receive it. The information is just too, whats the word, dangerous? Zayn will think of it later. The two men are dressed for winter when it’s barely September, fur floor length trench coats and snow hats.

“Oh look who we have here Vladimir, we have a little British boy.” The smaller of the two points out. They both laugh darkly. The smaller one, who is not _small_ by any means, has sharper features and a thinner beard. His voice is hoarse and rocky like he spends his time singing opera. Either that or he is part frog. Zayn holds back the smile threatening to split his face at those thoughts. _A burly Russian half-frog singing opera! Bahaha!_

“I see the tiny British boy Maksim. Don’t you see that you stand no chance against us two?” Apparently they aren’t intimidated by his gun. Zayn knows neither is unarmed, but puts his gun back in its holster. “I think he does see. Play this game smart, boy.” Vladimir has a thick round face with a nose far too big for and eye brows larger than caterpillars. He’s definitely uglier than the other one. Zayn puts his hands up.

“Alright you’ve got me.” They two burly men in front of him look at each other and then back to Zayn. Zayn wouldn’t believe himself if he were the other position. You don’t just turn yourself in that easily. Zayn isn’t even putting up a fight. These men are both skeptical and not showing it or they are just daft.  

“хороший! Good! Now where is that note мальчик?” Zayn drops his hands and shrugs. He barely understands the Russian. It was never his favorite when he was training, but he gets it. He can speak it and understand it better than write it.  

“Я сжег его, I burned it.” Zayn sees the glint in their eyes after hearing that he understands their Russian, but it’s short lived when they also realize that he said he burned the note. Zayn’s guessing they’re travelers, or messengers.

“What?” Both men screamed at the same time.

“Oh I must kill you now!” The smaller one starts to advance. Zayn doesn’t move, he knows what the other is going to say.

“No Maksim! He must’ve read it if he burned it.” Vladimir gets a malicious smirk, “We can torture the information out of him.” Maksim stops and busts out laughing, Vladimir joins him.

“Great idea Vladimir!” They both start to walk with their hands out to Zayn. Like what you’d see in those horribly cliché movies where the bad guys corner the scared damsel in distress; except two things. Zayn isn’t afraid of them, and this isn’t a cliché.

“Zayn, the team is almost there. Hold them off for a little while longer.” Mash says in his ear. Zayn smiles; Mash is always there for Zayn. “And stay alive.” _Planning on it._

“Boys, boys, boys, you wouldn’t want to torture me would you?” Zayn is just stalling; of course they want to torture him.  

“I actually do.” Vladimir counters and Maksim nods his head in agreement.

“Well I suppose I should be afraid then right?” Zayn taps his chin, and tries to look like he thinking.

“You should be.” Maksim snarls. Zayn sprints to his right and jumps on some barrels. Vladimir and Maksim roar and dash after him Zayn leaps from stack to stack of old barrels. _This isn’t safe!_ In the back of his mind he knows he should get off the barrels, but on the ground it’ll be easier for him to be captured.

“Zayn where are you? Send a signal or something. The team is there.” Zayn pulls his gun out and shoots the door three times. _Two shots left._ Just enough to shoot Vladimir and Maksim if he needs to. The two men duck their heads and seem quite irritated that the shots weren’t even aimed at them.

“You’ve got bad aim there boy.” Vladimir teases. _No not really._ Jay says he has as good of aim as his father does-did. The same as his father did.

“Well dang.” Zayn shouts back over his shoulder, jumping onto a different barrel. Oh fuck, faulty barrel. Zayn falls through and landing in a puddle of red wine and splinters. A wave of pure pain crashes though his body through his ankle. _Fuck_. Vladimir and Maksim laugh, taunting him.

“Zayn are you alright? The team will be there any minute.” Mash’s voice is anxious and wavering.

“Look Maksim, the little British boy hurt himself.” Zayn snarls at them. _Fuck you._ He is getting soaked from the wine, but at least he’ll smell pretty nice right? _Alright Malik, shut up. The pain is obviously getting to you._ Vladimir and Maksim are getting closer and are grinning. _Fuckfuckfuckshitfuck_. “Let’s take him.” Suddenly the doors burst open and in run the team. Zayn sighs in relief. While Vladimir and Maksim are stunned from the abrupt intrusion, Zayn kicks them quickly in the shins with his good foot. They groan and fall into the puddle as well. Zayn spits on them. They’re cuffed and brought out of the area. Zayn closes his eyes.

“Zayn do you need medical attention?” Mash’s voice rings in his ear. _Always so caring._ _But I'm fine._ Zayn starts to stand up and immediately stops. _Holy fuck maybe I’m not getting up yet._

“Well I probably should get some.” Zayn doesn’t want to look at the mess that is in front of him. Instead he chooses to keep his eyes closed as he’s lifted onto a gurney and brought back to HQ hospital.

.

As soon as Zayn wakes up he is pulling the blankets off him and getting up. Zayn ignores the beeping and puts his left foot on the ground. He uses the nearby table to help him push off. Hobbling around, he finds a pair of crutches and starts to maneuver around the room to the door.  Before he can reach out to grab the knob the door swings open, barely missing Zayn.

“Oh I'm sorry Agent Malik, but you can’t leave yet. You’re not healed.” A nurse tries to usher him back to the bed. Zayn doesn’t want to go back to bed; he wants to get back to work. He _needs_ to go back to work. He needs to find who killed his family but he can’t do that while lying down now can he?

“Sorry Miss, but I’m fine. I'm not staying here sorry.” He goes past her and to the threshold of the door.

“Agent Malik I'm not authorized to allow you to leave this room.” She tugs on his arm. Zayn takes his arm back and starts to leave anyways.

“I don’t need your authorization.” Zayn calls over his shoulder. He realizes that was probably rude, but he doesn’t apologize. Zayn doesn’t want to stay in that suffocation hospital room. Ever since he was 10 he hasn’t wanted to be in the second level ever again. Zayn tries his best to stay out of there. He wants to forget the memory of his family’s death, but doesn’t want to forget his family. It’s painful; he was only ten years old, still a child. Zayn pushes away those thoughts and changes his thoughts as he enters the elevator.

The note.

Zayn’s breath hitches. He’s sure that isn’t possible. Nope, completely impossible. But in the back of his mind he knows it’s _completely_ possible. Why though? How could they know? Wait. The signature at the bottom. Zayn’s eyes widen with realization.

“What?” He breathes aloud. “No no no.” Zayn takes a deep breath and rubs his temples. Why would he do this? Zayn really needs to talk to Mash. He can help explain this. He’s smart. The elevator dings and he’s on the third floor. He pushes himself forward with the crutches and stops at Mash’s office. He knocks on the door and Mash jumps. “Can I come in?” Zayn asks when the door opens.

“Yeah of course.” Mash opens the door wider and lets Zayn get himself situated on the chair. “So how are you Zayn?” Zayn thinks about whether or not he should get straight to the point or slowly roll into it. _What if it’s just a misunderstanding?_ Zayn sighs. _Frightening!_ Frightening the information the note held was frightening. And he wasn’t sure of how anyone could know it until his revelation in the elevator. The person who wrote it would definitely know those facts. Zayn almost forgets to answer.

“My ankle hurts a little and this cast is uncomfortable, but I’ll live. How are you Mash?” Zayn ankle doesn’t even hurt that bad actually. He’s sure he hasn’t broken it. Probably just a sprain. Which he’s glad for. Zayn can’t really afford a broken ankle. He needs to find the man who murdered his family. And he isn’t planning on resting until he finds the asshole.

“I’m fine right now. You know anxious as always though.” Mash has this high anxiety problem along with ADHD. Zayn finally asked why he was jumpy when Zayn was fourteen. Mash laughed for a moment and replied that he has this PTSD problem and was already born was his ADHD. Zayn had already felt a little bad about asking so he didn’t want to pry further on what caused his PTSD.

“We need to talk.” Zayn gets straight to the point. Mash starts to twiddle his fingers. He looks nervous, like he knows what he’s going to say. Mash knows he read the note.

“Alright. What’s wrong Zayn?” Zayn takes a breath. He still isn’t sure about this. I mean there are plenty of people with that name right? _No not really._ Get to it Malik, say it. _Say it_.

“It’s about the note.” Mash looks out the window to Zayn’s left. Zayn glances out the window as well. He doesn’t really get why Mash is all of a sudden so interested with the window. He never has been before. Zayn’s not even sure that Mash knew there was a window there until now. Then Zayn sees it. A sniper about two buildings away, his gun perched on sacks of something and he’s looking through the scope. It’s too far away from Zayn to be able to tell kind of sniper rifle it is. Mash gets up abruptly and jumps over Zayn as he hears the ‘bang’. Zayn is temporarily paralyzed. The glass of the window shatters and Mash falls limp to the ground with a thud. A gunshot wound to the head. Its fatal and he’s already dead. Blood pools around his feet. Zayn looks back out the hole in the wall and the man is gone. Dammit! “Mash! Some one! Come help please!”

.

Zayn is arrested and brought to a questioning room on the first floor. He’s numb. Almost everyone that has been important to him has been killed. Zayn doesn’t feel remorse, guilt, pain, nothing. He’s numb. Mash is dead. Many other handlers came in to ‘help’ and one even said that Zayn had shot him. Zayn was immediately arrested and brought into this white room with his hand double cuffed to the back of the steel chair and ankles belted to the legs. Zayn isn’t quite sure why they think he killed Mash. He loved Mash. Maybe not romantically, but he certainly did love him. Like a second father. Mash reminded him of his father. And he’s lost both now. Zayn hadn’t even had the chance to explain the situation. And he still hasn’t. no one has come in yet to interrogate him. Yet. Zayn doesn’t want to talk to anyone. Not an officer, not Jay, not even Louis. Who is his best friend. But according to that note he shouldn’t have any friends now. He needed to ask Mash why-“

“Mr. Malik, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” An officer walks in. or really he stalks in. He holds his head high like those snobs at prestigious schools and Zayn is pretty sure his nose is even upturned a little. His hands and held behind his back as he walks around the perimeter of the room. “And I can do either, but how about we just go easy alright? Good. Why did you kill Kelley Mashist?” Zayn doesn’t respond. “Was it because of how impossibly annoying he was? I mean he was really twitchy.” Zayn’s nostrils flair. He wasn’t annoying you prick. He had a condition. “Oh,” the officer makes a mock surprised gasp, “has that irritated you?” _No shit Sherlock!_ “Did you do it because you’re bloodthirsty?” Zayn holds back rolling his eyes. Zayn doesn’t really ever kill someone unless he really needs to. “Or did you just murder Kelley because he was your father’s handler and you just haven’t gotten over it yet?” Now that was crossing the line. Zayn almost shouts, but that’s what the officer wants, to rile him up, so Zayn takes a breath.

“I didn’t shoot mash. There was no gun in the room I don’t have one on me. And the window was shattered. There was a sniper on a building two of them away who had shot, aiming for me, and Mash had gotten in the way of the line of fire. I did not kill him.” Zayn answers as coolly as possible. “He was like a second father to me, why _would_ I kill him?”

“You’re right there was no gun and the window was shattered.” _Told you dumbass!_ “But that doesn’t mean you didn’t kill him. You could have shot him and thrown the gun out the window.” _Really?_

“How am I supposed to get the gun through the window?”

“You could have shot the window.”

“Well, why don’t you ask everyone in the whole fucking first floor if there was one gunfire or two? His body could not have fallen where it was if he hadn’t blocked the shot.”

“You could have moved it.”

“That quick? I don’t think so. Don’t you think the blood pattern would have been different? Or a trail of blood?”

“You are making a very good argument.” _Well thank you! It’s the first thing you’ve said this entire interrogation that has made any sense._ “We’ll be taking samples-“

“Jameson, what are you doing in here? This isn’t your case.” A female officer steps in. Jameson flips around and scoffs.

“I’m just having some fun with him McKay.” Jameson whines. _Seriously, you’re whining. How old are you?_

“Well, your fun is over, the real questioning will be starting now sweetie.” She says the last part to Zayn. “Go away Jameson.” McKay rolls her eyes when Jameson storms off. “He can be a right asshole sometimes, sorry love.”

“Sometimes? Does he not like me or what?”

“No, he’s like that to every person we question. He thinks it’s a good way to get them to crack, when it really just pisses everyone off.” Zayn hums in agreement. “But we really need to talk about the possibility of you murdering Mr. Mashist.” Zayn sighs.

“I didn’t kill Mash alright? I went into his office to talk to him about the note I read on my most recent mission. I thought he could help me understand it you know? He’s smart. Anyways, he was even more fidgety than usual and was looking out the window. I didn’t even know Mash knew there was window there until then.”

“Yes, Kelley was pretty focused on his work and not his surroundings.” McKay murmurs.

“out the window I saw a sniper. About two buildings away. And Mash, he-he jumped in front of the shot and saved my life. I didn’t shoot Mash.” Zayn hangs his head down.

“It’s alright sweetie. I didn’t think you did. We just have to cover all the bases, that all.” She gives Zayn a sympathetic look. “You couldn’t see a face right?”

“No ma’am.”

“Please, call me Linda.” Zayn has a feeling that he was supposed to be murdered because of what he now knew. That note… “We’ll look all around for any clues at the building Zayn.” Zayn just stays quiet again. “You must feel terrible. And I’m afraid I’ve got some more news that you may not want to hear.” Zayn looks up at her, silently asking for her to go on. “You’ll be staying two floors under Zayn. We can’t risk you being hurt. We’ll get you a room and groceries are due tomorrow. I’m sorry. And you’ll be assigned a new handler.” Zayn doesn’t want a new handler. He wants Mash. Or better yet he wants to reverse time and go back to when he was five years old and not to go to work with father. Then maybe he’d be dead with the rest of his family. And maybe he’d actually be happy. “You’ll meet him when your ankle is better. And you won’t be back in service until your ankle is _fully_ healed.”

.

Zayn is lying in an impossible uncomfortable bed that he’s pretty sure is made of bricks. He can go back to work tomorrow and meet his _new_ handler. And Zayn has half a mind to tell the agency that maybe he doesn’t need another handler. That he doesn’t need one at all. He’s alone in this hell hole of an apartment. It’s cold in here and smells like wet dog. Zayn doesn’t even have a dog, are you even allowed to have dogs down here? The place is at the very end of hallway two complexes to the left of the main one. And you can tell people don’t clean up the place after the families leave. It’s more like a studio. The _really_ old couch has stuffing pouring out of the corners and stains on the cushions. Zayn likes the fact there is no TV because what kind of reception would you get about twenty feet under? The tiny kitchen has a two burner electric coil stove and half sized oven. Accompanying those, the refrigerator holds about as many groceries you get every two weeks and no more. Zayn has one of the few apartments with a microwave, and uses more often than he should.  His bed retracts into the wall when he’s not using it, and the only actual room in this area is the bathroom. Which is just enough big enough for a shower, toilet, and pedestal sink. And the tiles are dingy, Zayn is sure they were originally informal ivory but now the tiles have become yellowish. The toilet is half broken, only flushing when it feels like it, and the shower has one setting; freezing. Needless to say, it’s cheap and annoying. Zayn is napping, and it’s one of those rare times where he dreams about nothing. Usually he’s whimpering and screaming in his sleep from nightmares. But occasionally he’ get a dreamless slumber. But he’s awoken all too suddenly for his liking by the door being banged upon. Zayn groans and shouts for them to come in.

“Zayn, I’m here to take you to the hospital.” It’s Louis. Why is he going to the hospital? Louis seems to read his mind and answers. “We’re going to get the thing off your foot. Now get your ass up and let’s go.” Louis grabs his arm and sits him up. “Please Zayn, maybe you can even get back into work early.” Louis stops and sighs. “I know you’re trying to find who killed your family Zayn. I’d do the same thing.” The bed dips and a hand rests on his shoulder. “And I’d like to help you find him.” _What?_ “My mother was pretty gutted when he died and I can’t imagine how you felt.” _I felt like I wanted to die._ “I’ve asked my mother and the agency if I could live with you. Because this place is shitty, there no sugar coating it.” Zayn smiles a little. “And I know you probably don’t want a new handler, but I met him, and he’s nice. You’ll see him tomorrow.” Zayn sighs. “Look Zayn, I love you like my own brother and I want you to be happy.”

“He signed the note Louis.” Zayn wasn’t really planning on telling anyone, but he trusts Louis, and Louis trusts him. Or at least he thinks he does. But it’s been eating him away. And he really _needs_ to tell someone. And Louis will understand right? Hopefully.

“Who signed what?” _Oh Louis._

“Mash, he signed the note from my last mission.” This is the first time he’s said it aloud; including to himself. And it already helps relieve the weight on his shoulders.

“Well I don’t see the matter with that.”

“They know I'm not dead Louis.”

“Who?” Zayn takes a shaky breath. Does he really actually want to tell Louis? Well he kind of has to now; he’s almost admitted it now. And if he doesn’t say anything Louis will pester him until he shouts it out. And he really doesn’t want it to come down to that. He’s still sketchy on telling Louis. And no one else needs to know this information yet. It’s none of their business. It’s none of Louis’ either, but he hasn’t got any other choice. He needs to get it out.

“The people who planned my family’s death.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way the Russian in here (in order read) says Good, Boy, and I Burned It. just in case you were confused. ~Ley


	3. New handler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is really short because I realized that Liam isnt here yet. and neither is Niall. so i had to put either of them in a quick chapter. Hopfully a longer one will be poster either tomorrow or tuesday. hopefully. :)

_“The people who planned my family’s death.”_

Zayn is scared for his life. He has to meet his new handler and he’s scared. Louis said he was nice and all. But Louis isn’t really that good at judging personalities. _Well I guess you aren’t either Malik, you didn’t even know Mash was a double agent._ Zayn sighs. He really didn’t see that coming. He really shouldn’t get so attached to people so easily. Look where it has gotten him.

Zayn walks at a steady pace out of the second floor, careful with his left ankle. He presses the button farthest from the bottom and waits in the elevator. The elevator dings and the doors open. A family of 5 steps in with tired looking eyes and tear stained cheeks. The mother, or who he’s guessing is the mother, gives Zayn an once-over and then closes the doors. Zayn strides down to the end of the hall way and sees two suit cases blocking his way and a note taped to the door. Zayn rips the note off and reads it.

_Agent Malik you’ve been evicted. Your new apartment is number 22c. Sorry for the inconvenience._

_~HQ_

Zayn sighs and takes the bags in his arms. He rolls back up to the top and turns to the left he goes past the b apartments and then he gets to the C’s. Zayn looks at the numbers on the doors and it’s in the back again. He opens the door and his eyes widen. The fact that it’s much nicer than his old place isn’t what amazes him; it’s the fact that there are two boys snogging on the couch. Zayn clears his throat and the boys sit up. It’s Louis and his handler. _Henry? Harley? Harris?_ Zayn really needs to get better at remembering people’s names.

“Uhm, sorry. Lou?” Louis smiles and scoots out from under _Harry!_

“I told you I asked my mother and the agency if I could move in with you. Well two people equals a better apartment. And I might have mentioned that you were hurt and pulled a sick puppy face to get one in the C’s.” Louis smiles sheepishly. Zayn grins.

“Thanks a lot Louis. This place is so much better.” The kitchen is open to the living room, but it’s not _in_ the same place. White linoleum covers a good three feet away from the appliances. The kitchen may be small in size, but it’s still bigger than the old one. The stove has four burners and the counter tops are an ugly yellow. _But at least there is counter space_. The refrigerator stands out past the counters a little, and there are few small cupboards. But Zayn can definitely cook in there. It’s not much, but he doesn’t need much. Especially if it’s just Louis and him. The living room has a small couch pushed up against the back wall near the door and a bookshelf lines the opposite wall, cut short by two doors. “What do the doors lead to?”

“The bedrooms. And in between the two there is a bathroom. It’s kind of weird, but it’ll work I guess.” Zayn shrugs. “And I haven’t picked yet, so you can choose first.” Zayn guesses they are probably the same sizes so he just goes into the right one. It’s eggshell walls are peeling in some places, but that’s fine. Beige carpet covers the expanse of the floor, and a full sized bed sits against the opposing wall of the door. A dresser stands to the right wall and a night stand beside the left side of the bed. Zayn pushes the suit cases beside the dresser and flops onto the made bed.

.

“Come on Zayn! Don’t be such a pussy; come meet your new handler.” Louis bounces on Zayn’s bed where he was taking a very nice nap. Zayn just groans. “Don’t groan at me! At least not for this reason. Just get your ass up you lazy bum.” Louis jumps off the bed. Zayn doesn’t want a new handler, he doesn’t want to get attached again, he doesn’t want to be hurt again. Zayn’s been saying this a lot to himself, but he knows it won’t happen the way he wants it to. With his luck he’ll get a body builder of a handler and he’ll have huge muscles and broad shoulders. Or a girl with big breasts and a tiny waist. Zayn isn’t really particular with who he dates. But now he isn’t really sure he could ever date anyone. How could he? He wouldn’t want to put anyone in danger because of him. Because he’s not dead.

“No I don’t want to get up.” Zayn moans. Louis throws the blankets off of him and grabs his feet.

“I’m going to pull you out of this bed Zayn.” Louis starts to tug on his feet. Zayn cracks a smile. “Come on Zayn! He’s really nice.” _Oh great, so it is a he._ He really did not need this. _Let’s hope that he’s a dorky boy who you won’t like Zayn._ Let’s hope Zayn won’t like him. Zayn sighs and starts to get up.

“Let’s go meet him Lou.” Zayn ruffles his own hair after he just slept and pulls on shoes. Louis smiles.

“You’ll love him Zayn!” _please, no._ Zayn follows Louis out of the apartment.

.

“Okay, he’s in a different room; he’s in the second room over- Zayn?” Zayn looks over to where Mash’s office used to be and the glass of the window was already fixed, the blood stains on the carpet is gone, and in his chair sits a blonde woman filing her nails with her feet on the desk. Zayn stops listening to Louis and knocks on the glass. She opens it with a roll of her eyes.

“What do you want Malik.” Her tone is annoyed and she rolls her eyes, smacking her gum loudly. That one of Zayn’s pet peeves. Chewing loudly.

“No feet on the desks.” That’s not her desk to put her feet on. Feet don’t belong on desks. Feet belong on the floor. _She doesn’t belong in there. No one belongs in there besides Mash._ Even though he was a double agent and was working with whoever killed Zayn’s family, he didn’t let them kill Zayn. He saved Zayn’s life. And he’ll never be able to pay him back for it. The woman scoffs.

“Just because you went rogue and killed your handler doesn’t mean you can go around bossing people around, _Murder Malik_.” She slams the door in his face. _Is that what people are calling him now? Murder Malik?_ Seriously? That hits Zayn hard. He didn’t kill Mash. Someone else tried to kill him, and mash save his life. _Maybe I did kill mash then._ If Zayn was at his house, like they thought he was, then he wouldn’t be in this mess. He did kill Mash. Mash only saved his life because he wasn’t dead in the first place. Zayn falls to his knees and grips at his hair. _You did kill Mash, Zayn. It’s all your fault. You are a murder._ Tears prickle at the corners of his eyes and they drip onto his trousers.

“Zayn? Are you alright?” Louis squats down beside him and puts a hand on his back. “Was it because of Becky? Because I can-“

“I killed Mash Louis. Not on purpose, but I did.” Zayn’s voice cracks.

“What? No you didn’t. He saved you. You didn’t kill him Zayn.”

“But if I had been dead in the first place he wouldn’t be. So I killed him.”

“No you didn’t Zayn. He didn’t have to block the shot, but he did.” Louis lifts him up and pulls him into a hug. Zayn buries his head into Louis’ shoulder. Maybe he did maybe he didn’t kill mash. But the fact that Zayn was still alive is what made Mash basically commit suicide. So part of it is Zayn’s fault. “Let’s go meet your new handler Zayn. Then we can go back down stairs and cuddle or something alright? Or I can beg Simon for a mission that you and I can go on. Does that sound good Zayn?” Zayn nods and Louis leads him to the right room He may be just imagining it but he thinks he sees Louis glaring at Becky.

When they get into the right area Zayn sees a bunch of people he’s never seen before. Other agents’ handlers. Zayn was pretty sure that the rooms were sorted similarly to the apartments. Maybe not. Because there are old people in here and young ones as well. It’s obviously not sorted by age. Louis shows him to a box with a boy facing away from them stocking a shelf with different books. Like dictionaries, almanacs, encyclopedias, etc… Louis knocks on the door. From the back the boys seems to have brown short hair and broad shouldered. And he has long lean legs. _Please don’t be hot! Please don’t have huge muscles!_ He turns around to open the door.

“Oh hi, I’m Liam Payne.” _Fuck._


	4. Oh shit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this is so late! Ive been busy with work and procrastining like crazy. i apologize deply and i really hope to get another chapter out before i leave to go camping this weekend. Enjoy chapter 4 :)

_“Oh hi, I’m Liam Payne.” Fuck._

Well at least he doesn’t have huge muscles. _No they’re **titanic**!_ His shoulders and biceps strain his grey t-shirt that falls flat over his stomach after that. _Grey looks good on him._   Zayn can only see the definition of his chest. Which he’s not complaining. Liam’s arms threaten to rip the cuffs of his shirt as he opens the door. _Fan-fucking-tastic. He has tattoos, great._ He has some writing and four arrows lining the underside of each forearm along with a feather in the inside. Zayn can’t help but think of the wings on his chest. Liam’s light brown hair is styled into something like a fohawk, or whatever they’re called. _Which is cute._   Zayn looks into his puppy-like chocolate brown eyes and almost loses himself. Zayn almost misses when Liam reaches his hand out to shake.

“And I’m your new handler.” He smiles. _I’m fucked; I'm so, so fucked._ Liam’s cheeks push up making his eyes all squinty. Zayn smiles in return.

“I’m Agent Zayn Malik. I’m your new spy.” Liam chuckles.

“My first spy. They said they’d give me you for my first agent.” Zayn is a little insulted that they give him a new guy. _He_ isn’t new. “Because you just lost your old handler, and they said your pretty laid back, and pretty easy to get along with.” Liam scratches the back of his neck. Zayn shrugs. He’s still offended by the fact he was given someone new. He knows that the reason he got someone like Liam (because yes he is really nice, Zayn’s already decided that) is because he is a little unstable. _No you’re a lot unstable, you just started crying in the hallway._ “Are you alright? You look a tad bit sad, and like you were just crying.” Zayn sighs.

“I’m fine, thank you Liam.” He doesn’t look too convinced, and Zayn doesn’t really sound all that persuading either.

“Liam, can I talk to you really quick, alone?” Louis looks at Zayn while he says this. Liam nods and Louis takes him out of the box and closes the door. Louis tells him something, and Zayn isn’t really paying attention. He looks through the books to see if he has anything besides books for learning. _Nope_. At least he’ll be a well-educated handler. Zayn sits in the chair and pulls his feet up. He closes his eyes. The memory of seeing the sniper, watching Mash jump up and killing himself, and screaming for help flash behind his eyelids. Zayn remembers the exact sound of the shot. He’s brought out of his thoughts by the door opening again. “Alright Zayn, do you want me to go see if we can do a mission together, stay here with Liam, or go cuddle downstairs?”

“You live dow-“ Louis gives Liam and look and Liam shuts up.

“Uh, I want to get back to work, so go beg Simon. And use your sick puppy eyes.”

“Alright, Liam, come with me. I want you to beg with me for your first mission. Put those puppy eyes to good use. Zayn, uhm, why don’t you get changed. Somehow I don’t like a pair of sweats and a t-shirt isn’t going to pass by Simon.” Zayn nods. He feels a little left out because Louis keeps going with Liam, but whatever. At the same time Zayn is glad for the independent time. Just to think to himself about things. Then again, his thoughts are scary and he doesn’t really want to marvel over those either.

.

Zayn goes back in Liam’s office with his usual suit on; black jacket and slacks, white button up, and red tie. Louis somehow changed all Zayn’s ties from black to red. ( _“Red looks sexy on you Z!”_ )  Inside Liam’s box is Louis, Liam, and Harry and they are all trying to do something surrounding the desk. Zayn knocks on the glass and Liam let him inside. It’s a little cramped with four people all in the small room.

“What are you all doing in here?” Zayn plops down in the chair he sat in earlier.

“We’re trying to get Harry’s _shit_ set up in here.” Louis grumbles trying to connect cords.

“Why? Why isn’t he in his own box?”

“Well because apparently Liam and Louis’ puppy eyes are extra persuasive.” Harry groans dropping a red and blue wire.

“Move, move, move.” Zayn pushes them all out of the way and connects cords to the right plugins, types in codes, and fixes all the wrong things the other three did. “Alright there. Now what do you mean their puppy eyes work well? Why is Harry in Liam’s office?” Zayn sits back down in the chair, pulling his feet up.

“What the fuck, how did you do that?” Louis screams.

“Mash always unplugged everything before he left and plugged it all back in when he got back to work. I used to help him. Now are you going to answer me or what?” Zayn is getting frustrated.

“Who’s Ma-“ Harry cuts off Liam.

“Oh yes, well Simon gave us a huge case. One that they are about to label cold. So we have to work quickly on it.” Harry answers finally. Zayn is still confused.

“So you’re in here because? Not to be rude, but I don’t see why you have to be in here.”

“Well since it’s a big case Simon suggested that we work together to gather information, since this is my first one and it’s a harder one, and what better way than to be in the same area?” Liam turns off the monitor on his computer. Zayn shrugs.

“Alright I guess that makes sense. What’s the case?”

“We’re reporting to the first floor for that information. C’mon guys.” Zayn stands up and follows Louis out.

.

“Alright here’s the file,” Simon passes the folder to Louis and Zayn for them to look at, “Antonio Bocci, he’s an ex-military general and knows how to hide. It’s been years since he’s been on the grid. We can’t find him anywhere. Including some of our best agents. I was already thinking about having Agent Tomlinson working this case because you and your handler have a sneaky way of finding people, and then this will be Mr. Payne’s first case.” Zayn remembers Louis’ first case. It was about this man who always hid in the hardest places, like underground in sewers, and Louis was always able to stay one step ahead of him. He _always_ found where he was. And eventually caught up to his fast legs to bring him in.  “So I thought might as well start hard. Agent Malik also knows ways to get into places and hide as well.” Zayn smiles proudly at this comment. Zayn doesn’t know how he does it either. Okay yes he does. On his missions he’ll get up to an electronic lock on something and Zayn will dismantle it in his fingers, or deactivate it. If you ask him, he’ll either tell you it was Mash or Calion that kept him well trained. “We don’t know much more about it. He’s been in several highly secure buildings, trashing them, and it seems that he’s taking nothing. The only reason we know its him, is because while Antonio was thrashing everywhere someone identified him from a building across the street.” This is all so confusing.

“Wait, wait, wait. This makes no sense. He’s just trashing the places? There’s got to be a connection between him and the buildings. Like they burned him of some sorts, something like that. You don’t just go into random buildings and mess everything up without there being a reason. Especially if you are an ex-military general.” Zayn looks through the buildings Antonio has gone to.

“I agree with Zayn, there has to be some reason he went to those buildings. They aren’t even all in the same place. One in Florida, one in Chester, one in Australia, a lot of different seemingly random places.”

“How is a bike factory going to burn an ex-general?” Liam asks bending over between the two boys to look at the file. “What, did he not get the BMX bike he wanted so he thrashed a bike factory? Seems unlikely to me.” Liam shrugs.

“He went to all these different places for a reason. But I want to know how he got to all these different continents without us knowing. I’d say boat, but these are all too close for it to be boat.” Harry looks the folder over as well. “He either has some accomplices or he’s got a jet on standby.”

“I hope he doesn’t have accomplices. Let’s see where did he go? A mattress company, steel factory, and a bike warehouse. Those are all opposites. How are we supposed to figure out what he’s doing?” Liam sighs.

“First thing’s first lets go out and see these places. I think we should look around, maybe even get into the data room.”

“How do you expect to do that? They usually don’t just allow you access to that kind of stuff.” _Liam, Liam, Liam._ Zayn picks the file up in his hands.

“Don’t underestimate the abilities of these two.” Simon reminds Liam. “Sneaky little boys they are.” Zayn grins and Louis smirks.

 “Tomorrow, too late in the day to go now. We can’t think about the possibilities tonight.” Zayn stands and heads for the exit.

.

Louis and Zayn are on a little puddle jumper flying over to Florida.

“Have you ever been to the states Louis?” Zayn asks taking a sip of his orange juice he so kindly asked for from the flight attendant. “I’ve been twice. Once to Florida, and once to California.” Louis flips the page of his magazine.  

“No, but I’ve been to Canada a few times, its chilly up there. Especially in Quebec.” He shivers for effect.

“Really? It’s really muggy in Florida, the opposite of home. Well, it does rain, but it’s not a cold rain.” Zayn looks out the window. “Basically if you take a shower on a Monday you probably won’t be dry until Friday.” Louis wrinkles his nose. “And you might grow some moss.” Zayn cracks a smile.

“Gross Zayn. That’s nasty.” They sit in a few beats of comfortable silence. “Do you like Liam, Zayn? He’s a nice guy right?” Zayn sighs. He was hoping Louis wouldn’t bring up Liam. Zayn doesn’t want to think more about him. He might just accidentally figure out he feels something for him. And he can’t let himself do that to someone as wonderful as Liam.

“Yes I like him. And he is a nice guy. What about you and Harry? You guys are pretty friendly.” Louis blushes and elbows Zayn in the ribs. “Snogging on the couch.” Zayn fake scoffs and rolls his eyes. “That’s my couch too you little fuck bunnies!” Zayn starts to laugh when Louis covers his face. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at it, much less sit.”  

“You’re a dick Zayn.” Louis mumbles under his arms. Zayn laughs.

“Thank you for noticing. How old is he anyways? He looks really young.”

“Yeah he’s seventeen, be eighteen next February.”

“What?” Zayn gasps. He’s _seventeen_?! Zayn barely got in when _he_ was seventeen! And Harry has been working here for a year? He was sixteen?! Well, handling a spy and being one are two different things. Maybe the age thing is different if you want to be a handler than if you’re an agent.

“Yeah you know his mum right? Well she put him in as a handler because she wanted him to get a feel of what it’s like being an agent without being an agent. Didn’t want to rush him.” Zayn raises his eyebrow. “I know sounds bullshit to be as well. I think his mum just didn’t want him going into such a dangerous job so young.”

“What sparked the little fling you guys have?” Zayn changes the subject. Louis sighs.

“It’s not a fling. At least not to me it’s not.” Louis leans his head back against the seat and looks at Zayn. “And I don’t even know. We had just met and he was awkward and hot at the same time and somewhere in between that day and the next week we were something. It’s all a blur really.” Louis sighs with a content smile on his face. “He’s really great Zayn. It’s only been a year and I already think I love him. Is that a bad thing Zayn?”

“No. Not at all Lou, not at all.” _In fact I think I already like Liam and I met him yesterday._ Except he doesn’t say that.

.

“Alright we’ve landed in Boca Raton and we’re headed out of the airport now.” Louis says into his small ear piece. Zayn fixes his suit jacket sleeves, and slips on a pair of sunglasses. He’s really going to need them in this bright sun. Maybe a black suit wasn’t the smartest decision ever, but it’s really just what he wears. “We’ve got to stop by a clothing store first. Suits are going to be too obvious and hot. Pay with cash. Do you have any American money?” Louis asks Zayn. Zayn pulls out a wallet and fans out bills. Louis nods.

“We’ve got both headsets connected somehow and so I can hear everything Agent Tomlinson says.” Liam tells them. Zayn rolls his eyes. _What did they do? It was fine yesterday!_

“Did you hook up the red wire to the left or right plug in?” Zayn asks as they push the doors open and step out to the afternoon heat. Louis unfolds the brochure he has in his hands and studies it. Probably looking for a clothing store.

“Which red one? There’s like seven!” Harry sounds frustrated. Zayn can hear Liam tell Harry it’s a different on that he’s unplugging and Harry starts to get defensive and fight back. For a minute they can’t hear their fighting. Louis sighs.

“Okay, doesn’t matter guys; just tell us how to get to a clothing store to change.” Louis interrupts Liam’s and Harry’s arguing match about which red cord. _Thank you!_

.

Louis and Zayn walk into a town mall not too far from the airport. They only get a change of clothes and draw string bag for each of them to put their suits in. Now they just look like normal people walking down the streets. Zayn has got on a pair of black skinny jeans and a plain white t-shirt while Louis has gone a little more flamboyant with his red jeans and striped shirt. Zayn giggles as people stare at them as they walk around the mall a little bit.

“You know we’re supposed to blend in Lou.”

“I know what better way to blend in than to stand out. You wouldn’t think that that couple over there are spies would you?” He points to a boy and a girl sitting across from each other at a table, and they look like members from a death metal band. The girl has her hair pointed out in spikes with purple streaks, along with white make up and black all around her eyes and lips. The guy looks about the same except with a blue in his hair.

“Uhm, no.” Zayn looks back to Louis who is adjusting the pack on his back. “I really wouldn’t think they would be. But I guess if they think the same way you do they might be.” He shrugs.

“So I look pretty normal right now.”  Louis sticks his nose in the air like a snob. Zayn rolls his eyes.

“Come on Lou.” Zayn grabs his elbow and drags him out of the shopping mall. “Alight guys, where is this steel factory we’re supposed to be going into?”

“So you guys are just leaving the mall correct?” Liam asks. Zayn nods before realizing they can’t see him. Not the first time he’s done that.

“Yeah we are.” Louis answers poking Zayn’s sides.

“Alright you are probably going to want a taxi. It’s about six miles away from where you are. The address is 7491 North Federal Highway” Harry tells them.

“Okay, Zayn can you get my sunglasses out of my bag. I left them in there.” Louis steps in front of Zayn and watches and Zayn opens the bag enough to get his hand through. He hands Louis his sunglasses and Zayn slips his own over his eyes. “Can you hail a taxi Zayn?”

“I can get us one, yes Louis.” Zayn waves one in **(I live in a small town with no taxis and I’ve never even seen a real one, so I’m not even sure how to explain how he got one, sorry!)** and both boys get in. Louis announces the address as he’s buckling himself in. Zayn looks out the tinted windows as the cabbie tilts his head to the side searching for cars. Zayn’s eyes bulge. “Holy shit.” Louis gives him a curious look. Zayn gets really close to Louis’ ear. “That’s Maksim.” Zayn’s voice wavers slightly. Louis senses the panic in his tone but doesn’t understand. “My last mission I put away Maksim and his brother Vladimir.” Louis gives him an incredulous look.

“No, that’s impossible.”

“Completely possible Lou, promise. I swear on _your_ life that it’s him.” Louis gulps. It’s going far that Zayn swears on anyone’s life, and Louis takes it as even a bigger threat because Zayn’s lost almost everyone and he swore on _his_ life. Not his own, but his best friends.

“Shit. Uhm,” Louis thinks of an idea, “Play along, quick before he looks!” Louis whisper yells before attaching his lips to Zayn’s. Zayn almost freaks out until he notices Maksim looking in the rearview mirror and he plays along, grabbing Louis’ cheeks and deepening the kiss. He doesn’t feel anything in the kiss like you always hear about in the movies or read about in books. No spark or whatever. What he does feel though is Louis’ tongue probing its way through Zayn’s lips. Louis is quick to respond by unbuckling his seat belt and straddling Zayn. Louis threads his fingers in Zayn’s raven black locks as Zayn runs his hands down to Louis’ waist. Both boys are relieved when Maksim grunts and mutters some Russian profanities under his breath. Louis and Zayn don’t release each other’s lips until the cab stops and Maksim demands his money. Louis throws some cash at him, saying something against Zayn’s lips that resembles a _thanks_ as he drags them out. The cab hastily drives away and Louis pulls away gasping. “Alright boys, we’re here.” Louis starts to fix Zayn’s hair from when he was violently pulling and messing with it.

“Are you alright, sounds like you guys ran there.” Liam sounds worried.

“We’re fine; we just had to… improvise.” Zayn fixes Louis’ fringe. Judging by Louis’ lips he’d say his look just has swollen and red. _Great._ Zayn swipes the back of his hand across mouth and Louis sticks his tongue out. He can’t even believe that he just properly snogged his _best friend_. It seems so wrong. Louis has a boyfriend and he just made out with him in the back of a taxi. He feels like a dirty cheater. Zayn just helped his best friend potentially lose his boyfriend over his own problems. Zayn sighs.

“Improvise on what?” Harry asks. He sounds so unknowing and it hurts Zayn’s chest. He hangs his head.

“Well neither of you are going to understand, but Maksim was driving our cab and we couldn’t let him recognize Zaynie here so we had to…” Louis bites his lip looking at Zayn. He wonders is Louis feels the same way. “Haz, don’t get upset, but we had to kiss a little in the taxi so he didn’t recognize him.”

“You what?!” Both boys yell. Louis and Zayn wince. Zayn puts his hands over his face and rubs them down.

“Ow, I told you not to freak! It was nothing. I’m sorry” Louis has guilty eyes and Zayn’s sure he’s got matching ones. He swears if there was another way he would have done it. Well, there were plenty of other ways, but none came to mind as the effect of seeing a burly Russian serial killer that you supposedly put in prison drive your taxi in another country.

“Yeah it didn’t mean anything besides trying to keep us all out of trouble. But someone needs to talk to the police men in the cells because one  of the prisoners has escaped and somehow knows where I am.” Zayn opens the door. “I’m sorry. I really, really am.”  Harry starts to say something, but Louis cuts him off.

“We have to talk about this later, sorry love.” Louis apologizes and walks in, Zayn following suit. “Back to business. Where can we find the stock room?” Harry heavily sighs.

“Well this place is pretty tricky down below. And even trickier to know how to get down there. the access door to the basement is behind the main desk. Good luck and getting behind there.” Liam puffs out a breath. Zayn and Louis bust out giggling. “What?” _New handlers are so funny._

“I think you underestimate our skills, young Padawan learner.” Zayn controls his giggles as people in the building start to look at them funny. Zayn wonders if Harry was as innocent and clueless as Liam is being right now.

“What?” Harry speaks up, obvious confused about the random _Star Wars_ reference. Zayn smiles softly when he remembers seeing the American movie when he was about 14 with Louis. They we’re camped out in his bedroom and we’re itching to see the weird-sounding movie. They boys we’re totally engrossed by the entire film and opted to stay up to watch the rest of the series (They had more now, and Zayn has to remember to bring that up so they can watch them). That was a mistake. A hilarious mistake that Zayn’ll never forget. They were absolutely tired the morning they finished the last one, and slept through dinner on Louis’ dirty carpeted floor.  

“Never mind. Just listen and learn boys.” Louis struts over to the counter where a woman stands in a suit. She looks to be in her mid-thirties. She has shoulder length brown hair is perfectly cut straight, like she just got it cut. Zayn just feels warm inside as she greets them with a homey smile, her storm grey eyes twinkling. But something also feels a little bit off. Her smile is almost too bright and motherly. Zayn squints his eyes for a second before returning them to their original almond shape.

“Hello boys, how may I assist you?” Louis grants her a dazzling smile whilst leaning on his forearms against the counter. _Does Louis sense it too?_

“Well you know, you could definitely-“ Zayn tunes out Louis as he stand a bit off to the right studying the lock on the door behind her. Zayn vaguely hears her giggle like a young school girl and rolls his eyes. _Always a sweet talker._ Zayn steps a little farther away so she can’t hear him as he speaks to Harry and Liam.

“Alright so I see the door while Louis is distracting-“

“Oh Sal, you’re so funny!” Louis throws his head back in laughter. But it sounds forced, as if what she said wasn’t really all that funny.

“Sal? I can see the door. Listen to my descriptions to find what kind of lock it is and I’ll figure out how to get in.” Zayn begins to name different attributes of the silver lock. “It has a number code 0-9 along with a dead bolt and handle lock.” Zayn continues with more detailed characteristics. He takes a peak over at Louis and Sal while he’s waiting for a response. He doesn’t feel so absolutely rubbish-like now. Louis is bluntly flirting with her, and it even disgusts Zayn. “And Harry, I know you can hear both of us, just know that he really doesn’t like her nor me, all he cares about is you. All he did was talk about you on the plane. Don’t worry about him. And please don’t be mad at us.” He hears Harry sigh.

“We’ll talk la-“ He’s cut off by Liam.

“Okay so to me, from your description, it’s a Schlage LiNK BE369GR electronic lock with deadbolt kit for wireless remote control. So there’s a remote somewhere, is that going to make it harder?”

“Maybe, we’ll have to see. But I’ve broken into a lot of Schlage’s before. It’s really not that hard.” Zayn keeps an eye on Sal and Louis as he continues to romance her. Louis’ eyes flick to Zayn tip toeing behind the counter for a millisecond before they’re locked with Sal’s again. Zayn doesn’t even think she takes notice. Zayn looks down to make sure he doesn’t trip on wires or something, because on one of his first missions he did that and revealed himself. Now, he’s a lot more careful. His eyes look over to Sal when he sees something in his peripheral vision. _Oh shit._


	5. Getting Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is short (about 2.5k) because its mostly just a filler chapter, but necessary. I'll hopefully get another up next week if not this week. Thank you all who are reading this. :) Hope i dont disappoint. Enjoy.

_Oh shit_

Zayn curses to himself silently. _Wow Malik, you're in deep shit now._ Zayn goes to stand up behind the woman. But of course Zayn’s luck isn’t running high these past weeks. Even before Zayn can get to full height he’s being kicked down. A shoe to the face wasn’t exactly in his plan.

“Zayn!” Louis shouts. Zayn rubs his jaw where Sal, if that’s even her real name, kicked him in the jaw. When Zayn had looked up, he had seen the holster of a gun around her hips, and knives strapped to her thighs. She isn’t the desk employee of this steel manufacturer, she’s an agent. For the other side. _Well duh! She wouldn’t have pulled a ninja move on you if she was your co-worker dipshit._ Zayn’s never seen her, and no one in the agency Zayn’s in would kick him in the face. At least not that he’s aware of. Everyone seemed to love his father, and he’s just like him. _No he didn’t murder his handler, you did. You’re different._ Zayn immediately pushes those thought to the back of his mind. This is _not_ the time to be thinking about Mash and his father. Not when there is some chic inevitably trying to kill him.  

“Louis she’s a spy!” Zayn gets out before she goes for another forceful jab in the stomach from her heel. Zayn hunches over, fighting off the pain, and crawls to the left. He vaguely hears Louis curse. _She sure has a nice kick. Kangaroo woman with knives and guns._ Zayn laughs in his mind. _Great, I’ve met a Russian frog singing opera and a desk working lethal Kangaroo at a steel manufacturer._ Speaking of that frog, how did he know where he was? Yet another thought Zayn pushes away. _No time for that._ _Well there may never be a time. You might die today Malik._ Zayn shakes his head.

“Hello boys.” A sickly sweet smirk plasters her face as she gets a gun pointed to Louis, and, without even looking, grabs Zayn by the collar. _Hey this is a new shirt!_ Zayn struggles to get out of her steely grip while Louis is frozen. Or seemingly frozen. Zayn can practically see the gears spinning wildly forming a plan. Louis is quick with plans. But usually he doesn’t really think about the repercussions. Zayn is thankful he has Louis with him. He makes up for all the things Zayn doesn’t have. Zayn can’t come up with a stupid plan in 5 seconds; he prefers to take minutes to form a fool-proof plan. Zayn can’t find people by just guessing, he takes his time putting together evidence and making an educated guess. But then, Zayn can hide in the weirdest places and in the scariest positions, Louis is often found when running away. Zayn can get a lock open in no time flat when Louis will spend hours searching for a key or typing in all the combinations. They work together.  

“Agent Malik? Agent-“ Liam goes to ask if they’re okay, or at least that’s what Zayn is guessing.

“Louis, are you alright?” Harry asks over Liam. Louis gulps. Zayn sees the slight vulnerability in his eyes before it’s replaced by his best Cheshire grin. Louis might’ve said something, but something tells Zayn that Louis doesn’t know if they’ll get out okay. He’s not sure either. The worst could happen today.

“Well Sal, I don’t think that’s the proper way you treat customers.” She rolls her eyes and flicks the safety off her Glock .40 caliber pistol. Zayn continues to writhe in her hold. She spares him a glance. It wouldn’t be so uncomfortable if her eyes didn’t say _I'm thinking of 80 ways to kill torturously._ Zayn swallows the lump in his throat, but holds back the fear threatening to show in his features. He isn’t letter her get the satisfaction of seeing him scared shitless, even if he is.

“You might want to stay still Pretty Boy, before I stain your shirt red.” She snarls in Zayn’s face. Louis takes this time to duck behind the counter. Her head snaps to where Louis was standing. Zayn reaches for her gun ( _why didn’t I do that before?_ )She drops it to the ground and holds her foot on it before Zayn can grab it though. He grunts. She opens a drawer and pulls out some zip ties. _Who keeps zip ties in a drawer? Unless she knew we were coming…_ Zayn hurriedly slips out of his shirt, but Sal is quick to grab his forearm and dig her ovular nails deep into his skin. Zayn winces as he’s dragged back. Louis pops back up as she’s tying his wrists together. “Are you two new agents or something, your making this way too easy for me? I mean who do you think you are trying to distract me by terrible sweet talk and getting in behind the desk.” She clicks her tongue. “So naïve.”  

“I don’t know what were we thinking Louis?” Zayn’s thinking about how Louis was playing innocent just a few minutes ago and tries to go along with his plan. Hopefully his intentions will become clear soon, because Louis looks like he just figured out the world, while Zayn is tearing up his skin trying to get out of the ties. Zayn searches his face for any hints he could be dropping, but sees nothing. Zayn sighs.  

“I think I was hoping that I’d distract her while you tried to get into the data room.” Louis taps his chin. Sal wraps and stuffs Zayn’s shirt into his mouth while laughing at Louis’ words. Her laugh may have been cute you know if it wasn’t so malicious.  

“You thought you could do that?” She chuckles. What happened to all the people that we’re in here earlier, and why can’t anyone see anything happening through the windows? She picks up her gun off the floor and points it at Zayn’s head. “I think you underestimated how easy your little quest was going to be. The people you’ll be dealing with through this whole little adventure aren’t going to be as nice as me.” Zayn snorts as best as he can with his shirt straining his jaw. _Where the fuck are Liam and Harry?_ Wait-

“Sorry we we’re trying to get into the cameras of the building you’re in. It was difficult.” Liam’s voice suddenly rings in his ear pulling Zayn out of his thoughts. Zayn closes his eyes and sighs. He stops paying attention to Louis’ and Sal’s biting argument. Then his eyes snap open. She’s distracted. Zayn slowly scoots back until his back hits the wall. _Keep her s=distracted just for a little bit Louis! Just a bit longer!_

“And after many lucky guesses, and researching we can see as well as hear you.” Harry sighs. “And you’re in a tight spot.” Sal suddenly spins around and faces Zayn with a malicious smile. How does she always know what they are going to do?

“I do hope you know I can hear your little conversation between Mr. Liam Payne and Harry Styles.” Her voice is practically dripping with hatred. “And what do you think you’re doing?” She hits Zayn on the side of the head. Zayn groans. “Are you still trying to get into the data room? Aww, how pathetic!” Louis is suddenly beside him. _What are you doing Louis?! Why are you over here? You’re supposed to across the counter distracting Sal!_ But his eyes don’t hold worry; they are beaming with adrenaline and excitement. Sal is picking Louis up by the back of his collar. He chokes a little, but his smirk stays intact.  

“Five seconds.” He whispers. _What?_  Zayn must look confused and Louis holds a finger to his lips. Sal places the gun beside his temple. “Four.” Sal looks between the two boys. Zayn is so confused, and she must see that because she looks back to Louis. What is he counting down to? _He couldn’t have made a bomb spontaneously. What are you thinking Louis?_ He has that same wide cat grin splitting his face as he did when Sal first revealed herself. “Three.” Zayn sits up, but Sal kicks him back down, a boot heel to the sternum. Zayn’s breath is knocked out of him as he collapses to the floor. Her arm is around Louis’ neck, but she’s not strangling him, more to just hold him there. Louis isn’t even trying to fight her. _I swear Louis if you get yourself killed because you’re being a sassy little shit I will kill you_. The paradox of his sentence doesn’t even matter that the moment. If Louis is risking his life without fighting for it-

“Guys.” Liam’s voice cracks.

“Louis! Do something!” Harry screams. Zayn remembers Harry too. Harry and Louis’ relationship. How much Louis loves Harry and how he still isn’t trying to get away. Harry sounds so broken, so defeated. And Louis has to be able to hear it as well as his smile falters.

“Two.” By now he’s frowning, but still isn’t pushing her away or kicking her or anything. Sal pushes the barrel into Louis’ head further.

“What are you counting down to?” She’s seething, not knowing something he does. Louis only responds with a _One_ before all Zayn can see is white.

.

Zayn wakes up in an uncomfortable position. His back is over two things that are lumpy, and his head against the hard ground (?) along with his bum and legs. He groans and raises his hands to wipe his eyes. What he gets it’s actually both hands hitting him the face. _Why are my hands tied together?_ And then it all comes back to him. _Holy shit_.

_“One.” Louis announces the last number before Zayn sees white. And it’s not that **real**_ _white. No; it’s like pain and fire white. White-hot pain like a burn. Maybe it is flames. Zayn is only half conscious when he realizes he’s being dragged. He hopes that it’s by an ally or by Louis because Zayn isn’t really in the mood to be kidnaped. “Sorry Zayn had to improvise. Blowing up half the place wasn’t exactly my first thought. But we had to do something. Have to go to Australia or something.” Someone murmurs, he’s guessing its Louis, but right now with his brain muddled he isn’t even sure if his name is Zayn. “Stay with me mate, can’t have you dying.” He makes it sound like Zayn is going to try to die._

_“Guys! We can hear a voice. It sounds kind of Russian. It’s blocking your guys’.” Liam’s frantic voice tumbles. Russian? Why does that have a meaning? It sounds important, but Zayn can’t figure out why._

_“Write it down! What he’s saying!” Louis hisses. Zayn can’t fight off the want to just close his eyes and sleep, so he does. “Zayn! Shit.”_

Zayn gasps suddenly and sits up.

“Oh my god you’re okay!” Louis’ voice sounds utterly relieved. “I thought you were going to die on me. Not cool mate.” Zayn rubs his face again, with the knowledge of his hands being together so he doesn’t punch himself again. “And I’m sorry about blowing you up, I couldn’t think of anything.”

“Where did you even get the explosives?” Zayn’s voice is gravelly and he sputters out a cough. A mischievous grin splits his face.

“You never know when you might want to blow something up, so I have a pocket explosive that detonates in a few minutes.” Zayn sighs.

“Well do you have a knife too? Because this tie is really hurting my wrists.” Zayn holds his arms up for exaggeration. He gets a good look at them, and notices dried blood running down his arms and a semi-open wound. Louis winces.

“I actually don’t have that, you’re going to have to keep those on until I can get something for you.” Zayn sighs and lies back down. He’s lying across Louis’ lap in what seems to be an alley or behind a building.

“Where are we?”

“I don’t know.” Zayn raises his eye brows. Louis always knows where he is.

“What? Why don’t you just ask Harry?” Zayn closes his eyes.

“Well in the explosion your headset got destroyed, and mine was cutting out. And remember how Sal said she could hear them. Somehow they have tapped into our feed and I didn’t want them hearing what we were saying, so I disconnected.” Louis doesn’t sound like he regrets it, but more like he’s tired.

“Well I guess that makes sense.” Zayn says instead of telling him how that was a terrible idea and how they absolutely need Harry and Liam. He cuts him some slack. “Are you hurt anywhere?” It just dawned on him how Louis was stood when the blast fired and how he was bound to be hit with shrapnel or have been blown back by the force.

“A little. Mostly just scrapes and bruises. I’ll get over that. And I have a little cut on my temple from her gun, but I'm good really Zayn. It’s you I'm worried about.” Zayn looks over his arms again. “I don’t want you getting infected with those cuts, but I can’t just walk into a Wal-Mart with cuts and bruises. And a hospital isn’t safe either. No one really needs to know our information. Do you hurt anywhere else besides your wrists?” To be honest his wrists don’t even hurt. He thinks about it for a moment before deciding that there’s a little sting on the back of his head and his left calf.

“Not too bad; just the back of my head, and my calf. But it doesn’t feel too bad. Probably nothing.” Louis lift’s Zayn’s head and checks for blood, and does the same to his leg.

“I don’t see anything too fatal. Just don't die on me from internal injuries alright?” Zayn chuckles.

“Alright, I won’t try Lou. What happened to Sal?”

“Well she’d either dead, good at acting, or unconscious. She on the ground on top of me when I was getting us out. Knocked her off, and dragged you behind the place.”

“Oh. Well, what’s the plan?”

“I don’t have one yet.” Louis rubs his forehead after puffing a breath of air.

“What? Louis Tomlinson doesn’t have a stupid plan? Are you sure you don’t have brain damage Lou?” Zayn reaches up and feels his forehead. Louis softly smiles and slaps his hands away.

“No you dick, I am fine. I have been making sure your ass was saved. Police were showing up and I had to get us farther away from the building.”

“We didn’t get to look at what he took or why he thrashed. But that woman obviously wasn’t working on our side.” Louis nods in agreement.

“But there are so many other sides against us. We can’t be sure she’s related to Bocci.” Zayn rests his head back down and thinks. She seemed innocent, and she knew they were both agents. She knew Zayn was going to go for the data room. She knew their names and handlers. _How did she know that? That isn’t possible unless…_

“She’s… oh my god Louis.” Zayn sits up so fast he practically gives himself whiplash.

“What Zayn?”

“She’s working with-“ and there’s gunfire.


	6. Louis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is here early. Yay! Enjoy, and tell me what you think!

_“She’s working with-“ and there’s gunfire._

“Shit! Come on Zayn.” Louis hurries to his feet and then helps Zayn up. “Thought I lost them.” They run around back allies and finally to a road. Louis gets a taxi and they sit inside.

“Who?” Zayn asks taking deep breaths to even his heavy breathing.

“Some guys were following us. One of them was huge and with a beard, possibly Russian, another who strangely enough reminded me of Scar, and the other looked a little like Slim.” Zayn gulps. Slim was one of those cases Zayn and Louis worked on together. It was a few months ago actually. And he was killing off seemingly random children and women. He was _slim_ he could fit into the tiniest places to hide. He hid behind a refrigerator once and had ended up slicing a female officers throat while she passed by. Needless to say he was sneaky and Louis had a hard time even tracking him down. And Zayn wasn’t getting easy to get to Slim. He was like a fox; sly. Zayn had gotten into his little hide out only to have a knife pressed up against his neck. Luckily Louis was right behind him and got him, but it was scary.

And the Russian with a beard and who was huge. Zayn gulps. Vladimir. _Seems like all the people I had put away are coming back to get him._ The realization hits him like a brick. _Fuck_. Vladimir, Slim, Maksim, and what happened with Mash. They’re all after him now. They know he’s a Malik, and they know he’s not dead. It was the mission to get all the Maliks dead, and they failed. And it’s obviously not taken lightly if they had to break criminals out of jail. _What if it was all just a plan from the beginning?_ As soon as Mash reported that Zayn was with his father and not at his house they started forming a plan. Maybe Mash killing himself was planned. Maybe he didn’t do it to save Zayn’s life. Maybe he was so jittery because he knew he had to kill two people since the beginning. Mash was extra anxious when Zayn came into his office because he had to kill himself, but make Zayn think it was to save him. Zayn’s brain starts short circuiting, or that’s what it feels like anyways.

“Louis, the Russian was Vladimir, Maksim’s brother.” Louis covers his face inn his hands, resting his elbows on his knees. Zayn looks out the front window and hits his head against the back of his seat curing wildly and loudly.

“Hello Malik, long time no see.” Maksim’s heavy accent pounds in Zayn’s head as if he had speakers implanted in his brain playing Maksim’s voice on replay. “I thought you would have learned your lesson from the first time. Maybe the second?” Louis lifts his head and notices it was the same guy from the first cab. He groans.

“Great, just fucking brilliant.” Louis mutters. “Look mister Russian guy, we don’t want trouble.” Zayn thinks how Louis probably didn’t have the same revelation as he did. Maksim just laughs. His laugh is disgusting. As if he was choking on bricks. Zayn rolls his eyes. He looks out his window to get a hint to where they might be going. “How did you even get out of prison anyways?”

“Oh that, Mr. Tomlinson, is classified information.”

“Whatever.” Louis grunts and crosses his arms. Zayn looks at his door handle and nudges Louis with his thigh. He looks over to see Zayn with his hand gripping onto the door handle. Louis grins and scoots to the other side of the cab. Zayn softly whispers,

“One, Two, Three.” And they open them. _Tuck and roll Malik! You’re going to hurt yourself worse if you don’t tuck **and**_ _roll boy! From the beginning, don’t give me that look, you can only get better._ Zayn can hear Calion’s voice in his mind. _You might need to jump out of a moving car in one of your missions. It’s a good skill to know_. Zayn feels the hard asphalt on his knees and back and it hurts terribly, but his head is alright. Zayn can hear the swearing coming from the taxi they just ran from and scrambles up. He sees Louis and they lock eyes.

_Run._

Louis takes off and Zayn follows tight behind. _Where are they going to go?_ Louis seems to have a plan because he’s dodging pedestrians and making abrupt turns. Usually Zayn wouldn’t be able to sprint 5 blocks, but with the adrenaline pumping through his veins, and how absolutely scared he is for his life _and Louis’,_ he can. Definitely can. The airport comes into view and Zayn mentally sighs in relief. _You’re so smart Louis. Thank god I have you._ They both slow down as they enter the building. Zayn grabs his hand as Louis navigates though the sea of people. Though he didn’t really grasp it because he doesn’t want to lose Louis, he’d be able to find him really well with those pants on, but more for mental support. Louis seems to understand because he squeezes for just long enough to relax Zayn, just a bit. They get to where they could board their little puddle jumper, and Louis all but walks on. Zayn takes a random seat, but Louis walks up to one of the flight attendants.

“We need to leave now. Like right now. Back to HQ.” She looks confused, but either from Louis’ heaving chest, or urgent voice she pops into the cockpit. Louis flops into the seat beside Zayn and closes his eyes. “Holy shit. I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared in my life. And I’ve worked plenty of cases.” He rolls his head to rest on Zayn’s shoulder. Zayn returns his finger to interlace with Louis. “Can’t imagine what you were feeling.” He’s silent until the plane takes off and they’ve been in the air for a while. “That _was_ Slim wasn’t it?” It’s really a question. It’s more like a rhetorical statement. But Zayn nods anyways.

“It was, and that was Vladimir and Maksim.” Zayn tells Louis about that mission. About how he was sent to retrieve a piece of paper that wasn’t allowed to be delivered, and how he had to hide in an old winery. When he read the note. “I was freaked out when I read the note Louis. It was signed by Mash, and I thought I could trust him you know? And then I realize he’s a double agent telling _them_ that I’m alive.” Zayn tells him how he had to run from Vladimir and Maksim. “When I first heard Maksim’s voice I thought of a frog, or someone who sings opera. So now every time I think of him I call him a Russian frog singing opera.” Louis laughs at that and Zayn giggles along with him.

“He does have a gravelly voice doesn’t he?” Zayn mentions how the barrel was faulty and how he fell and sprained his ankle. “I thought about the pain for a minute before I realized I was becoming soaked by some really old wine. A waste.” Louis smiles.

“At least you smelled fancy.”

“That’s what I was thinking.” Zayn listens to Louis when he tells him about Scar. About how he was a huge guy.

“No I'm not even kidding. He was at least six foot seven and two hundred fifty pounds. Absolutely ginormous. He made Vladimir look average. No kidding.” Zayn’s eye brows shoot up. “Yeah.” Louis says that he couldn’t really hide, _but wow did he have a pair of legs_! And how much trouble Louis had getting him to prison. “Sure I got cuffs on him, I'm not sure how the bloody fuck I did that, but he runs like a cheetah Z, like a fucking cheetah. One of our other guys got him with a tranquilizer gun though and we got him in.” Zayn nods.

“Did he cheat you a lot? Was he a _cheetah_?” Louis can’t help but laugh at the utterly terrible pun Zayn just cracked. Zayn joins him.

Somewhere along their stories of recent villains, they fall asleep. With the armrest between them up, and cuddled together.

.

Zayn’s jostled awake by the plane landing. Louis is still soundlessly slumbering. The pilot notifies them they can safely depart. Zayn unbuckles Louis and picks him up. He carefully makes it down the steps and immediately he is almost knocked down.

“Oh my god is he okay? Louis?!” Harry takes him from his arms and starts sobbing when Louis slowly blinks his eyes open. “You’re alive. Please don’t ever do that again Louis. I-I thought I was going to lose you.” Louis drops from his grasp to the ground and wipes Harry’s flowing tears from his face. “I love you.” Louis just pressed his lips to Harry’s. Zayn feels tears prickle at his eyes but holds them back. An arm slings over his shoulders and there is Liam smiling, a few drops hitting his blue shirt.

“We were really worried about you guys. Harry didn’t sleep. He’s running on like ten cups of coffee. Let’s go inside we can talk about what happened, leave them some privacy.” Liam leads him back inside and he they walk into his office, which is a mess. “Sorry about the mess, we were kind of camping out in here and trying to figure out where you guys could go. Harry was really freaking.” Zayn nods and just takes his seat in the chair he’s mentally claimed. “After Louis jumped over the counter and was held in a head lock is when Harry started going crazy. He were mostly silent because she said she could hear us but Harry was pulling his hair and biting his hand. I didn’t even know what to think, it’s like he had given up. And we were confused to what he was counting down to and then we saw the explosion. And let me tell you, I couldn’t hear for a few minutes. The blast was definitely loud, but Harry’s scream was even louder. I’m sure people could have heard him in the next room over and two floors down. And then after a few excruciatingly long seconds Louis started talking to you can we could hear him, and some Russian guy-“

“Vladimir.” Zayn clarifies.

“Alright, and Louis said to write down what he was saying, and we did and it somewhere in the mess of my office. I promise you it will never look this bad again. But after Louis said to write it down he shouted your name and a curse and he disconnected. Harry was again in hysterics. We waited and waited for either of your voices but all we got was static. Like when your telly disconnects. I was pretty sure Harry was going crazy. His eyes started getting a little wild after about the 5th cup. He’d start pacing the room furiously and muttering incoherent words until he broke down into sobs. And then we got word your plane was coming in and I cannot describe the look on Harry’s face. The best I think I could say is that he was relieved and happy. He was about the burst as he saw the plane in the sky.” Zayn sighs and runs a hand through his hair. He can’t even imagine how terrible it probably looks. After a snogging session, an explosion, being dragged, sprinting, sweating and sleeping it probably doesn’t even resemble what it originally did. “You’re bleeding, are you alright?” Zayn remembers how he was bleeding earlier and how his hands were tied. He picks up his wrists, but the tie is gone. “I think we should take you to the hospital.”

“No.” Zayn hisses immediately. “Sorry, I just don’t like the hospital. I'm fine.” Zayn sees Louis walking in With harry holding his hand like a lifeline. Louis knocks on the glass and Liam lets them in.

“Zayn, you need some medical attention I don’t want your wrists getting infected.”

“What happened to your wrists?” Liam reaches out, but Zayn pulls them back.

“Noth-“

“Zayn was being a dumbass and trying to get out of them effectively tearing his skin and causing him to bleed.”

“Louis I'm _not_ going to the hospital.”

“Then go downstairs, I’ll get something. How did you get the ties off?”

“I don’t know,” Zayn thinks back to when they were in the airport and how he grabbed his hand, “Must’ve broke or something when we were running.” Zayn gets up and starts to walk out of the office.

.

Louis comes into the apartment with a box full of shit and Harry behind him. Zayn is just sitting on the couch with his legs tucked under him. Louis drops the box on the floor in front of Zayn and gets on his knees.

“Harry didn’t want to leave, so he came with. Is that alright?” Even if Zayn _did_ care he wouldn’t have said no. Just the pure look of love in his eyes as he stares down at Louis right now and how the tears were streaming down his face when Louis woke up tells him that his answer is yes no matter what. Zayn shrugs in response to Louis’ question. Louis takes his hand and rests it palm up on his knee.

Louis finishes cleaning up Zayn’s wounds on his arms.

“Where else?” Zayn shrugs. “Zayn.” Louis gives him a look that he can only connect with his mother when she _knows_ he’s hiding something but he won’t tell her. The pursed lips, knowing eyes, and slightly cocked head. Zayn shakes his head and leave through bedroom to get to the bathroom. It shouldn’t hurt him this much by now to think about his dead family, but it stings just as bad as it did when he was ten years old. When he watched his house combust and hearing the shot that killed his father.

.

Zayn really can’t sleep. Well, maybe he could if he stopped moving. But he can’t stop doing that. Frustrated Zayn throws his blankets off himself and silently tip-toes out of the flat. No pant, No shoes, no shirt, he walks to to the elevator and pressed the button to the first floor. He ignores the glances, and just barges into Simon’s office.

“I’m sorry but I'm bu-Zayn? What are you doing here in that state?”

“We need to talk. Now.” Zayn closes the door and sits in one of the chairs.

“Zayn I’m a little busy right now.”

“They know I'm not dead Simon. Kelley was a double agent. Vladimir, Maksim, Scar, and Slim have all escaped. They were after us. Or more like me. They know one of the Malik’s is alive, and they aren’t going to stop until they kill me.” Everything pieces together now. Zayn tells him absolutely everything. From the beginning. When he was on his mission to get the note and imprison Vladimir and Maksim and what the note said, who signed it to be more exact. He tells him how Maksim drove the cab they took to the steel manufacturer. He tells them about Sal, and how _she was working for who killed my family. She knew everything._ Zayn explains when they were getting away how Louis saw Vladimir, Scar and Slim. And again Maksim was the cab driver when they were getting away. How they jumped out of the cab and made a b-line for the airport to get back to HQ. “Simon, they know. And four prisoners have escaped. Kelley didn’t work for us. They want me dead.” Kelley sounds foreign on his tongue. Zayn doesn’t think he’s ever addressed Mash as Kelley, but now through this all he doesn’t deserve the nickname. He knew what he was doing. _Kelley_ knew what _Kelley_ was doing.

“Are you positive Zayn?” Zayn groans.

“I wouldn’t have stalked up here in just my boxers if I wasn’t sure Simon.” He sighs.

“Well ill have the officer check those cells and take you off the mission so you can stay down stairs.”

“NO!” Zayn shouts, startling them both. “I mean that’s what they’ll expect. They obviously aren’t stupid. They know we probably came back to HQ so the first place they’ll look is where I live. I need to go back out with Louis.”

“Zayn out building is highly secure-“

“Really? That’s why my father was shot to death on the front steps and a sniper aimed to kill me from a different building right? Because you guys are so secure. _Four_ prisoners escaped because your building is so secure. And it’s not like they could have just walked out. Maybe Slim, but the others are big, you’d notice them.” Zayn jumps up and sneers. “Oh yeah, so secure.” Simon sighs.

“Alright, tomorrow you can. Just be careful Zayn.”

“I know.” And Zayn leaves.

.

“Get up Louis; we need to talk about where we think Antonio is.” Zayn pokes his cheek. Louis is being spooned by Harry, and Zayn feels bad about waking him up, but they need to go now. Absolutely now. They need to figure out where he is so they can get him, bring him in, so Zayn can start working on how to get to _them_. Louis moans quietly.

“Go away.”

“No Louis. We need to find him. They probably know we came back to headquarters, and they aren’t stupid I'm sure they know we live two floors down. We are risking them getting us Louis.” Louis sighs and turns around. He slowly kisses Harry awake until his eyes lazily open and he sleepily smiles.

“I could get used to this every day.” Zayn’s heart breaks just a little more hearing those words come from Zayn.

“Babe, we have to get to work. We need to find Antonio.”

“You aren’t leaving. What if they kill you? No, I'm not almost losing you again.” Harry’s languid grin quickly turns into concerned and stern frown.

“Hazza, they probably already know we’re here, what if the four of them come down here. I could barely get Scar, but less Scar, Vladimir, Maksim, _and_ Slim. Remember Scar and Slim?” Harry nods. “Baby, we need to get to work, getting Antonio, and then getting them. After all that, I’ll be coming back for you. And we can cuddle in bed all day, and I’ll kiss you awake every morning. Alright?” Harry holds Louis close. If Zayn didn’t feel like utter rubbish before he does now.

“I’m really sorry Harry, but we do need to go now. I’ll, uh, leave you two alone and call Liam.”

.

Zayn makes his way up to the third floor. When the doors of the elevator pop open he steps out from between them and into the main room. He sees _Kelley’s_ old office where Becky has her feet propped up on his desk, eating a bowl of cereal. Zayn rolls his eyes and goes to the second room. He walks with his head down just thinking about everything that’s happened and racking his brain trying to figure out where this Bocci guy could be. Zayn sighs and knocks on the glass. He looks up when no one answers. Liam said he was already here. Zayn’s eyes widen, _oh_ _yeah he’s there alright;_ with a knife to his throat and terrified eyes. Scar, or who Zayn is guessing is Scar by Louis’ description, is smirking at him, pressing the knife closer into Liam’s skin. A line of red dribbles down Liam’s skin and soaks into his shirt. And then a bag is thrown over his head. Zayn can only process two thoughts. _I can’t breathe._ And _Louis_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I seem to always leave you guys with cliffhangers. at least this one isn't as bad right? I don't know. Next one up next week. Excited?


	7. Fueling the Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took forever! I was trying to get it up before the weekend, but i couldn't and this weekend was my birthday so I'm so sorry. And updates will hopefully stay once a week, but school starts on Wednesday. :( So so sorry. :(

_Zayn can only process two thoughts. I can’t breathe. And Louis._

To say that Zayn was scared would be the understatement of the year. He is _bloody pissing himself._ Not quite literally, wanting to keep his dignity, but he’s most definitely screaming and kicking. And maybe shaking a little. Why aren’t people seeing what’s going on? The more he thinks about when he was walking in he didn’t see anyone in the box one over from Liam’s. _Were they killed?_ Zayn really hopes not. Because that would just be a whole room full of people to add to the list of people’s deaths he’s responsible for. _And where’s Liam?_ He’s either dead, incapacitated, or being held back. Hopefully neither of the first two. _Louis is supposed to be coming up; maybe he’ll catch them before-_ before what? Before they kidnap him? Before they torture him? Before they surely kill him?

The bag is opaque, like a plastic grocery bag you have a stock of in the bottom drawer of your kitchen. Zayn thinks if he’s ever kidnapped again they allow him the decency to have a more breathable bag. Like a rice sack. Nothing like this suffocating thing. He’s probably going die before they even get any fun out of him.

“ _What the fuck_?” Zayn doesn’t think he’s ever been more grateful to hear Louis’ voice more than his time in his life. He almost sighs in relief, but knowing how many guys are here and how absolutely huge two of them are… “Zayn!” And then the person who is carrying him like a ruck sack takes off in a run. Zayn’s being jostled, and he’s probably going to have bruises along his ribs and stomach. “Shit.” And suddenly Zayn can make out red tinting the bag. At first he thinks its blood, but there was no splatter, and it’s everywhere.

_BRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG!_

The alarm bell. This time Zayn does sigh. But only then does he realize he was moving down. Not like a fall, no, more like an elevator. _Shit._ He’s stuck in an elevator with god knows how many criminals itching to kill him. _Great._ They don’t have weapons right? But Scar as the knife. Zayn sighs again, but more like in exasperation than in relief.

“Zayn stay alive in there!” He can barely make out the muffled voice through the thick elevator doors. And then he hears a scream. Zayn winces. He’s never heard if before (well maybe when he was a young child) but he _knows_ that’s Louis. And just hearing that has him kicking and thrashing harder. Whoever was holding him just grunts and lets go of the grip they had over his waist. Zayn briefly screams before all the air is pushed from his lungs. The fall maybe isn’t that far, only a few feet, but when you’re already losing air from the bag around your head ( _and when were his hands tied up?)_ and it’s surprising. Zayn’s pretty sure he’s allowed to be gasping. Though it may not be the smartest idea with _this fucking asphyxiating-_ and suddenly it’s being pulled off with a huff. They catch some of his hair and he flinches but otherwise he just relishes being able to actually breathe.

“If Louis dies I will personally murder all of you torturously until you’re begging for death.” Zayn seethes after he’s gained enough oxygen to sit up and scoot to the wall. Inside with him isn’t the whole posse, which is the bright side. The dimmer, negative news is that he’s got Vladimir, Slim, and Scar in here. Three of the scariest criminals Zayn’s ever heard of to be honest. _That means that Maksim has Louis._ And Zayn’s anger level is boiling to a breaking point again. “I swear.” They all just bust out laughing. _Fueling the fire_.

“Oh Zaynie-baby, you know that’s not what would happen. But it’s nice of you to think optimistically.” Slim’s voice is overly sweet and he strokes the side of Zayn’s cheek. Zayn shakes his head and raises his _tied_ hands to slap his hand away. He’s seriously had enough of having his wrists together. _Why don’t I just weld them, it’ll make it easier for everyone._ Slim clicks his tongue in a scold before he slams Zayn’s head against the elevator wall by his hair. “No don’t be rude Zayn. I’m just admiring those lovely cheekbones you were gifted with.” He reaches his hand up for another touch. Zayn squeezes his eyes shut and tries to think about something else and not Slim’s hand molesting his face. But his mind only wanders to Louis and his scream. Zayn’s insides are twisting and turning. He feels like he might throw up. If Louis dies he’ll have no one left. Sure he has a few other friends that work around the agency, Louis’ family, and _Liam_. But it’s _Louis._ But speaking of Liam what happened to him? Zayn tries using Liam as a distraction from what could be happening to Louis but it just doesn’t work. Flashes of Maksim pinning his tiny body against the wall and- _wait_. Where’s Harry, he had to have come up with Louis right? Zayn’s almost calm until he thinks about how he’s still in this elevator with three escaped convicts.

“While we’re stuck in here, might as well share some talk yeah?” Zayn open’s his eyes. Slim gives him a smile. It looks genuine, but he has this mischievous glint. And Zayn knows that look. It’s that look Louis gets when he’s playing a prank. Slim sits down in front of him and draws patterns on his knee. It takes all of Zayn’s being not to get his thin fingers _off of him_.

“Well what do you want to talk about babe?” Slim’s voice doesn’t even hold malice, and it scares Zayn more than it probably would if it did. His tone is soft, gentle.

“How did you guys escape?” Zayn tries to ignore Slim’s feather-light touches, and Zayn almost says something, except he doesn’t.

“Well you know how my cell is tight squares instead of just bars right? Well-“

“Slim! Don’t talk to the boy.” Scar commands.

“Oi! Scar don’t get your knickers in a twist!” He turns around to look at Scar. “He’s going to die anyways.” And there’s a hint of… remorse laced with his last statement. Zayn gulps. “What does it matter.” He mutters facing Zayn again. Or more like his own lap. “Anyhow, what I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted.” Slim starts again sarcastically. Slim actually reminds Zayn a lot of Louis. He’s sly, and mischievous, sassy, but he has this sugary voice. “When we were making our way out to supper I might’ve slipped into someone else’s cell and hid. And then when the gates closed again and the officers left I squeezed through the bars and out of the place through a vent. I had found the office place with the guards and I used a sharpened spoon from breakfast to slit their necks to get the keys for dearie Scar, Vladimir and Maksim.” His fingers stop tracing patterns for a second as he looks into Zayn’s terrified eyes. He sighs and continues. “Then the next night I got out, killed the guards watching our side, and got the other three. We walked out after that.”

“You just walked out?”

“Well actually we passed by the big-guy’s office and might’ve overheard your conversation in there and got a plane to Boca Raton.” He smiles just slightly, and Zayn thinks that maybe if he wasn’t a heartless serial killer it might’ve been cute. _But he is._ “What about _you_ Zayn.” He pokes his chest. “How did you escape? Maksim was on orders to pick you as we were dancing on you guys in the alley. We found Makie here, but you and Lewis-“

“Louis.” Zayn corrects him with a quip. Slim just shrugs.

“Yeah, sure. You and Louis weren’t there. How’d you escape?”

“Pulled open the doors of the cab we were in and sprinted for the airport.” Might as well tell them, he’s doomed to die anyways. Slim nods.

.

When the lights go out in the elevator Zayn starts to panic. He thinks that they got it dark so they could kill him spontaneously. Without him knowing when it’s coming. But the others seem confused about it too. Slim and taken a spot beside Zayn and Slim’s thin fingers grip his thigh. Zayn hisses in pain and jerks his leg.

“What the hell did you do pretty boy?” Vladimir demands. Slim rolls his eyes.

“How was he supposed to do something Vladdie? He’s been sitting right here beside me like a good boy the entire time.”

“Well then what happened to the lights?”

“Agency probably turned off the power in the elevators.” Zayn shrugs and closes his eyes.

“So are we going to drop?” Slim sounds scared, and Zayn almost feels bad for him. But you know, _he’s a murderer._

“No I don’t think so.” He sighs. Zayn is massively bored; he has absolutely nothing to do. He closes his eyes and rests his head back against the wall.

Zayn wonders what Louis is doing. _Is he fretting over this or is he downstairs drinking tea with Harry?_ Liam, what is going on with him? _Is he alright? In the hospital? Home? Helping?_ And where is Maksim? _Is he dead? Back in prison? Killing people randomly around the agency?_ So many questions that Zayn may never know the answer to. And to be honest, that scares Zayn. Terrifies him actually. He’s got three killers stuck in a dark elevator with him with little chance of escaping. Especially with Slim’s hand dancing across his thigh.

“I’m bored Vladdie, entertain me!” Slim whines.

“I’m not your toy Slim. Besides its pitch black in here. How am I supposed to even see you?” Vladimir grumbles.

“I don’t know.” He huffs.

“Well I'm going to go to sleep. ‘M gonna need to have full energy to squish little pip squeak here. Wake me up in a while.” Scar announces.

“Yeah me too.” Vladimir agrees. Not long after snores fill the room and bounce off the walls only to ring in Zayn’s ears.

“Looks like it’s just me and you Zaynie.” Slim whispers.

.

Somewhere in the few minutes it’s been since the other two went to sleep and now Zayn and slim are laying down facing each other. Their eyes have adjusted finally and Zayn can see Slim’s smile.

“So Zaynie how is your job?” Slim shifts to rest his head on his palm while his elbow is propped up on the floor. “It’s gotta be exhilarating. Shooting bad guys and all.”

“Yeah it’s actually pretty fun. Though really dangerous. You really have to listen to your handler to make sure you know what you’re doing. One time I was in Scotland hiding in this bush and I had turned down my head piece so I couldn’t hear Mash. And I had taken a step too soon and ran right into a couple of bagpipe players for this choir thing. It was embarrassing.” Slim giggles.

“Smooth Zayn, real smooth.”

“Like chunky peanut butter, I know.” Zayn smiles. Slim and Zayn just have a nice chat with each other. Well you know that is before Slim drops the bomb.

“I don’t want to kill you Zaynie, but we have to. So I can get back to my family.” Zayn cuts his quiet laughter short and gulps. “I have a son and he’s probably still at the house living off of the food we had left, and I’ve got to get back to him. Raise him you know? And to do that I-we have to kill you.”

“Why do you _have_ to?”

“It’s the only way he’ll let us go Zayn. He knows you’re alive. Has all along.” Zayn’s breath hitches.

“Slim, tell me about-“

“It’ll hurt me worse than it’ll hurt you I promise. I’m in love with you Zayn.” Zayn senses him sitting up and scoots his body up the wall. Slim raises his hands and wipes at his eyes. Zayn only now processes what he just said. _What?! He loves me?_

“I can’t-“

“I know, you can’t love a murderer.” Slim’s chuckle is dark and unforgiving. “I can’t love myself either. I don’t blame you.” Now Zayn lets himself feel bad for him. It’s not his fault he fell in love with Zayn. You can’t help it when that happens. _But why me?_ Slim could surely get someone else as a partner. He isn’t _ugly_ by any means. You’d just have to look over the fifteen plus deaths on his record.

“Look Slim-“

“Don’t Zayn.” Zayn’s getting fed up with being interrupted. “Don’t

“Don’t cut me off again Slim. I’m sure you’ll find someone else.” Except he doesn’t say that. Before he can even say anything all hell breaks loose.

The elevator doors are pulled open just enough to get a can of smoke inside. Well Zayn thought that’s what it was, but it’s obviously something different because suddenly he can’t breathe. _Seems like the inability to breathe and tied wrists is a reoccurring thing now._ But it’s not like smoke. Or at least not the kind he’s used to. And he can hear yelling, high pitched screaming, thrashing, and a voice trying to speak to him. But it’s muddled and all he can process before he’s pulled out of consciousness is being hoisted up onto something.

.

This time when Zayn wakes up he’s not in a hospital, he’s in a more comfortable bed. Like his own bed downstairs. He groans and raises his fists to wipe his sleepy eyes.

“Good you’re awake.” Someone’s gruff voice says. “I’m tired and I couldn’t sleep until I knew you were okay.” Zayn sits up and sees Louis in a chair across from the bed.

“Hey Lou.”

“Don’t hey me Malik. You were just trapped in an elevator, in the dark, with three prisoners and you didn’t die. Please explain to me how that worked.”

“They just, didn’t kill me yet. How are you? You’re alright? I heard you scream.”

“When? When I’d just come up? Oh I'm fine Zayn! Harry was there with me. I’d be more worried about Liam. But he’s fine too Zayn.” Louis must’ve seen the concern in his eyes or something. “Just a thin cut across the neck. Nothing to drastic. We were all sure that you got it the worst with your reopened wounds on your wrists. Are they okay?”

“They are fine. What happened with Maksim?”

“Got him in a secure holding cell as soon as you were trapped. And the other three are in some as well. They’re waiting for their turn in the ol’ electric chair.”

“They’re being executed?” All Zayn can think about is Slim’s confession. About his son, and how he’s in love with Zayn.

“Of course! Should be soon. Do you want to be there? I’m going with Harry in a little bit. And I think Liam might be there as well.”

“You want to watch them?”

“They deserve it Zayn. They captured you, tried to kill us both, and were still trying to get away. Not to mention all their past crimes. How do they not deserve it?” Louis is getting frustrated and stands up from the chair.

“What if they have families Louis? Like a wife or a child?” Louis sits back down.

“Well they must know it was going to happen when they didn’t come home for supper.” Louis crosses his arms.

.

Louis pretty much drags him into the room to catch the last electric shock. And of course when has Zayn ever been lucky? It’s Slim’s turn. They stand behind glass. And it’s not even the one sided window. Oh no, you can see crystal clear through both ends. Zayn accidentally catches Slims eyes and his heart breaks a little. They’re full of sorrow and guilt. Slim gives Zayn a small smile as he’s being strapped down and hooked up.

‘I love you.’ Zayn can see his lips move before the bag is placed over his head.

“What did he say?” Liam asks behind him.

“Looked kind of like ‘I love you’ but I'm not sure.” Harry answers. Zayn gulps and the man takes the switch and pulls it down. Slim’s body erupts into convulses and a scream pierces the air. Zayn can’t help the lone tear that falls when the shuddering finally ceases and Slim’s body is limp. The switch is powered off and Zayn bolts for the door. All that’s going through Zayn’s mind are the shrill shrieks before being cut silent. He may not have loved him, but it’s never fun watching someone die. And maybe Slim’s death is added onto the pile Zayn has on the list of _People I practically killed._ And maybe that just _fuels the fire._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry about mistakes, i was in a rush to get this out. Hopefully its alright. Kinda short though... and mostly a filler. :/

**Author's Note:**

> Leave your opinion? I'll gladly accept constructive criticism. :)


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